Danny's Inferno
by Legend Maker
Summary: A Teen Titans and Danny Phantom crossover. Amity Park is under seige, attacked by a terrible evil that another group of teen superheroes know all too well. And Danny, even with their aid, will learn that evil never dies, and it needs...to burn...
1. Sparks: Seed of Destruction

**_Danny's Inferno_**

Writer's Note: To new readers and old...

This story began to be written in the time between the Danny Phantom episodes "13" and "Public Enemies", said time being a few months, during which over 2/3 of the story was written before Public Enemies was finally aired. As a result, while a few details were gleaned about future episodes from web sites about these yet unaired future episodes (such as Paulina's crush on Danny Phantom), certain other details were not, such as Danny becoming a Spider-Man like pariah in his town, his parents (especially his mother) becoming his enemies because of said pariah state, and his aquiring of the name "Inviso-Bill". As a result, said things are not referenced in the story, which makes a few things sound odd or strange or out of character. I have attempted to make a few changes and done a little retconning in the course of the plot to more fit the show's first season, but in the end I must plead off on the fact that if you see something a little strange, it is the three month gap to blame rather then my lack of research. In the end though, I don't feel this takes away from my epic tale. So why don't we begin...

* * *

_Some say it is about the tale, and some say it is he who tells it. Some say that it is the journey that matters, others the destination. And some say one should merely begin to speak and others will follow, and others say that one should wait until one is in step with his fellows before he begins. Whatever may be true, there is a background to this story, and to save some the trouble of reading a book to understand a beginning, I will tell you where this tale begins._

_Here, it may begin with one extraordinary boy. But the very beginning involved another extraordinary boy, and a girl…and a man, who was also extraordinary…for all the wrong reasons._

_The boy was named Noel Collins, and in the canon I created, he was the newest member of the Teen Titans, specifically the group whose have debuted in their anime-themed cartoon and become very popular. He called himself Savior, a young man blessed with a great power and no path to take. In the process of finding one, he met Raven, child of a human mother and a nigh-omnipotent demon lord. The two eventually discovered a great passion between them, but the journey to that passion was hard and wrought with deadly obstacles and danger. And perhaps no greater danger came from the third part of this triangle, a blade-wielding, philosophy-spouting homicidal psychopath called the Lord of the Night. The Lord desired to save the world by destroying it, wiping out virtually the whole human race because he could not stand the imperfections of the human animal. Savior and Raven opposed him: he attempted to murder them as well. He failed, and seemed to die in the process. But he did not._

_He returned._

_And this time he had brought allies, though how he had met them or how he had managed to recruit them was never revealed. Their pasts were clouded in shadow, though they proved to be deadly dangerous. There were three: two were Murdercrow, a blind warrioress with great combat ability and a terrible past that had left her with a tormented soul, and who loved the Lord, and Shadowmaster, a quiet man whose namesake said it all when it came to powers, and who secretly loved Murdercrow. But they are only mentioned in order to compare them to the last ally the Lord had brought with him. Indeed, ally is perhaps the wrong word._

_Her name was Sizzle, and little was learned about her except for the fact that she was a pyrokinetic, able to start fires with her mind…and that she had been horrifically abused, much like Murdercrow, but while Murdercrow had internalized her pain, Sizzle's had driven her mad, a madness that focused around one thing: a furious hatred of men._

_How the Lord, a male, managed to convince her to work with him was lost to time. Perhaps she had, somehow, put aside her terrible rage for what the Lord had planned at the time: a ritual to gain godlike power, a ritual he perhaps promised to share with his allies. But it was all a lie. The Lord only wanted his allies to set up the ritual…and for Murdercrow, for her to be a critical part in it. For that, he betrayed and murdered her, and when Shadowmaster attempted to avenge her, he murdered him as well. The only one who escaped his treachery was Sizzle, who had been given the beaten Titan males to "play" with. What she might have done to them was also lost to time, as the Titans combined their efforts to break free…efforts that resulted in Sizzle's accidental death. The Titans were spared from feeling her psychotic wrath, and it seemed that Sizzle had found peace in death…_

_But looks can be deceiving…_

_What happened between the Titans and the Lord afterward is a great tale, but it is for another time. But before we move on to this tale, we must speak of one more…_

_For the Lord's evil lived on beyond him, as the Titans, nearly a year after the events that resulted in the deaths of the Lord's three minions, found that there were serious consequences. Murdercrow, whose hellish life had only been referred to obliquely, had remained in the Tower, her tortured spirit unable to find peace, and her agony slowly becoming a fury as powerful as anything Sizzle had ever hinted at, as the T-Tower reverated with her pain and became a gigantic power battery, an extension of her rage, as one night of passionate love between the Titans Robin and Starfire became more then she could bear and she lashed out, attempting to repay the world for all the pain it had made her endure by making others suffer in her stead. In the end, it almost resulted in the deaths of Robin and Starfire, as well as the prisoner the Titans had been holding, the impish bad luck sorceress Jinx, if not for Raven, who stepped in and showed Murdercrow the truth behind her fury. With that, Murdercrow's anger faded, and her spirit moved on from the Tower, perhaps finally finding the peace it craved and deserved…_

_But Murdercrow was, in the end, just a poor girl who wanted her pain to end…_

_The same could not be said of Sizzle._

_For some people, pain is a burden they yearn to throw off. And for some…pain is a definition of who, of what they are, a ugliness seeded by others whose rot seeps in so deep it becomes what the person is, what the person always will be, what the person desires, the sickening vitriol that takes a suffering soul and makes it a monster._

_And such things…do not always disappear with death…_

_Sometimes…they're too strong for that. They live on…in the area…or…in a similar form…_

_(The events spoken of here can be explored in greater depth in my Teen Titans fanfics Black and White and Wings of the Eagles, in the "Lover's Walk", "Justice", and "Restless" arcs respectively)._

_Rene Descartes said "I think, therefore I am."_

_For some…it must be said differently._

_I hate._

_Therefore I EXIST.

* * *

_

"Terrible experiences make one wonder whether he who experiences them is not something terrible."

-Nietzsche, _Good and Evil_, Maxims and Interludes, 89

Chapter 1: Seed of Destruction

If Danny Fenton had to put a beginning on when the whole mess started, he would have said it literally began with a sign.

Specifically, a sign on paper, sketched in charcoal, provided to him by his best friend Sam Manson.

"Where did you say this came from again?" Danny asked. The gothic lovely shrugged, her ponytail doing a slight little bop with the motion. Why Danny noticed that, he didn't know.

"My parents bought it. It looks like an amulet, except there's no place where a chain or a cord or a thread or anything could be inserted. Instead, it has ridges on its side, like it was supposed to be gripped. It rather reminded me of those small hand mirrors Native Americans used to flash sunlight with before the Europeans came in and destroyed…"

"Right, moving on…" Tucker Foley said. Sam looked annoyed, but you can't really blame the black teen: he was curious about what Sam had given Danny and didn't want to get distracted by one of Sam's speeches. "Why did they buy it?"

"Who knows? Someone recommended it. Someone else wanted it. Maybe it was an impulse buy. Money does strange things to people's heads." Sam said, with a tone that was both annoyed and resigned. "But I recalled that someone was saying there was some kind of power around it. I figured it could possibly supernatural, and if it is, that probably means it will cause trouble soon, so I figured that if I gave you a heads up, maybe this time we could head whatever nastiness is coming next off at the pass."

"If it does mean something." Danny said, looking at the sketch. Maybe whatever had carved it had meant for the design to be seen as lovely or terrible or humorous or who knew what else, but all Danny could make out was a bunch of squiggly lines crossing over and interlacing with each other.

"This the whole thing? It looks cut off here." Danny said, pointing to a corner, where a series of lines formed a pattern that seemed to be missing a section.

"It's the whole thing: I was careful with my sketch. I would have brought the amulet myself, but my parents wouldn't let me. I don't see why not: I figure if you're going to spent the budget of a third world country on a…"

"Right…" Tucker said, interrupting Sam again. "Can I see?"

Danny handed over the paper. Tucker studied it intently.

"Acklar acklar, mokukkk mokukkk…" He suddenly said. Danny raised his eyebrows.

"You can read it?"

"No, I'm just clearing my throat."

Had Danny been in an anime-inspired cartoon, at this point he would have facevaulted.

"Ha ha Mr. Brooks. Give that back." Danny said, as he retrieved the sketch. "Well it's all Greek to me…maybe literally….but who knows, maybe my parents…"

Danny really shouldn't have been moving when he was talking: it made him step out into the hallway and hence his sentence was interrupted when a large form suddenly loomed up and slammed into Danny, knocked him down with a short yelp of surprise.

"Oh no! I accidentally knocked a loser down! What's the fine for that these days?" Came a voice that grated on Danny's nerves far more then the fact that he had been knocked down. He glanced at the broad-shouldered form of Dash Baxter, who had most likely seen Danny coming a mile away, but he'd taken the path of more resistance, so to speak.

"I think it just makes you fine, man." One of Dash's cronies chuckled. Danny was by now ignoring Dash: in ten seconds and one overshadow later, Dash would be getting intimately familiar with the contents of the nearest trash can. Instead, he realized the bump had made him drop the sketch, which had fluttered a few feet away. Danny reached over for it.

Dash's foot came down on his hand, squashing it between the floor and the sole of his shoe. Danny yelled in pain and jerked his hand away, dragging the sketch along the ground.

"Oops! Sorry Fenton! I hope I didn't hurt that hand, you'll probably need a lot in your life!" Dash laughed, and along he went down the hallway, his cronies chortling with him. Danny growled low in his throat, grinding his teeth as he picked up the sketch and got to his feet. His intense distaste for what had happened was mirrored in the face of his two friends.

"Jerk." Sam said.

"Wait, need the hand…was he saying…?" Tucker said, suddenly getting a pondering look in his eye. "Oh, owtch! Danny, put him in TWO trash cans."

"I think I'll try and break my record…" Danny said, as he began to concentrate.

"Whoa, hold it there boy." Sam said, lightly grabbing Danny's shoulder. "You forget where we are."

"We're in the school hall, I've transformed here before!"

"With this many people?" Sam pointed out. Danny glanced around, and then realized Sam was right. When the halls were relatively empty he could get away with Sam and Tucker providing all the cover he needed to change, but at the moment the hallway was packed. Danny's aggravation greatly increased: no revenge, and with the time it had taken to make the realization Dash and his friends had disappeared around the corner. And Danny wasn't going to go chasing after Dash for the sake of an eye for an eye: going to that much trouble for such a inane reason was something that Dash would do, not Danny. Well, definitely not after Sidney Poindexter…but Danny liked to think it was more him being the bigger man and walking away from the fight.

"You're right. Next time. This will give me time to think of something special." Danny said, a hint of wickedness in his gaze.

"Would that something special be A) Luring Dash with weird noises near a trash can, and B) Inserting his body into said trashcan?" Tucker asked.

"You know me too well." Danny replied good-naturedly.

But then the bell rang, and the three had to go their separate ways. In the end, Danny never got his own back: he didn't see Dash for the rest of the day. By the time school was over his head had cooled, and upon meeting his friends outside the school, he returned the sketch to Sam and the three set off for the Fenton house.

"What if it's just an old doohickey from an ancient civilization?" Tucker inquired after they had gone about a block.

"Then no harm, no foul." Danny said. "If it's nothing we've lost nothing. And if it is something…"

And then a wisp of blue smoke flowed out of Danny's mouth. But even that warning didn't really prepare him for what happened.

"RAHHHHHHHHHH!" Came a sudden yell, and poor Danny, already half dead in some senses, nearly went all the way to that state as he nearly had a heart attack.

Then the form popped up from the street, and Danny's start quickly turned to annoyance.

"I AM THE BOX GHOST! FEAR ME!" Yelled the journeyman spirit, clad as always in the working attire he may have worn when he was alive/human/physical/in some other state then the one he was in at the moment.

"Oh joy." Danny said.

"So scary." Tucker added.

"Yes, for all the wrong reasons." Sam remarked.

The Box Ghost looked annoyed.

"I SAID FEAR ME!" he bellowed.

"Oh god no. Please no. Oh the humanity." Danny said in a bored tone.

"DANNY PHANTOM!" The Box Ghost said, pointing accusingly at the three: fortunately there was no one around…and even if there was, they probably wouldn't have believed what they were seeing. "I do not know how you found out about my plan, but you will not interfere! Now flee, or face my corrugated cardboard wrath!"

"Ugh, bad box puns are one thing, but that was just plain TERRIBLE." Danny said.

"Ohhhhh, you think you're so clever! Why don't you just put the entire form of comedy in a box?" The Box Ghost said. Danny would have smacked his forehead, if he'd been more inclined to get ready for a fight.

"Look buddy, I don't know what kind of plan you have…"

"Liar! Your falsehoods are as fragile as a wet box! But you will not stop me from claiming my precious pulp treasures!" The Box Ghost said.

"No, I'll stop you just because you're giving me a migraine."

It was roughly that time when the small U-Haul drove by. Danny only noticed it for the movement, and he briefly read what was on the side: Salvation Army.

The Box Ghost certainly took more then a passing notice for it.

"Hark, my treasures are here! Now I will claim them! They will not be using those boxes for their old moldy clothes and broken down devices any more! They will not defile my precious packages!" The Box Ghost said.

"What? Dude, they're taking those for the less fortunate! If you wait they'll unload them and you can have the boxes! We won't even care!" Sam said.

Silence.

"……….IAMTHEBOXGHOSTFEARME!" The Box Ghost yelled, and then flew off after the truck.

"Superman gets Lex Luthor, Batman gets the Joker, The Teen Titans get Deathstroke the Terminator…I get the Box Ghost." Danny said, sighing.

"And you're complaining your arch-nemesis isn't a megalomaniac genius, a king amoung lunatics, or a walking, talking death sentence?" Tucker inquired.

"Nah, not really." Danny said. "Stand back! I'm goin' ghost!"

And Danny reached deep down into himself, as he felt the change wash over his body, as he left his flesh and blood behind and became something much more then that, even as twin circles appeared at his waist and passed up and down over his body, changing his jeans and t-shirt into a black suit with white trim. His black hair went white, and his blue eyes went green. Exit Danny Fenton, high school student. Enter Danny Phantom, ghost battler extraordinaire.

"Hit me!" He said as he rose off the ground, as Sam tossed him the Fenton Thermos, Danny grabbing it and slipping it on his back in one smooth motion as he took off after the Box Ghost.

"You know, technically Danny's arch nemesis would be Plasmius." Sam pointed out to Tucker as Danny flew off.

"Yeah, but why ruin the moment?" Tucker replied.

"MWA HA HA!" The Box Ghost laughed, as he landed on a car that was a few dozen feet away from the U-Haul. Why, I don't know. Maybe he wanted to rest his feet…or use his feet…or something. "Soon, those precious boxes will be mine! My precioussss…"

"CAN IT GOLLUM!" Danny yelled as he dove down with a kick, knocking the Box Ghost through the air, the bulky spirit doing a few twirls in the air before he stopped.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO INTERFERE, DANNY PHANTOM!" He yelled. "Now I will teach you to think INSIDE THE BOX!"

And the Box Ghost raised his hands, and from the sidewalks and garbage bins discarded boxes of cardboard and balsa wood flew up and barraged Danny. They were too soft to hurt, but they were filthy, and Danny yelled and made the spluttering noise disgusted people make as he raised his arms and tried to keep the mucky packages away from him.

And though you probably can't blame him, he probably should have paid more attention to the Box Ghost, as the commander of all things container raised his arms and seized control of a mailbox, yanking the much heavier metal construct from the ground and hurling it at Danny.

"YOU'VE GOT MAIL!"

"Yuck, I just…YIKE!" Danny said as he saw the red projectile fly at him, and he zipped down to the street as the mailbox flew over his head. He sighed with relief, then jumped as a scream got his attention, and he turned to see that the mailbox, having missed him, was apparently going to settle for another target: an approaching car. With a yelp, Danny fired a blast of ectoplasmic energy at the mailbox, knocking it aside and sending it crashing onto the street, a storm of letters erupting from the damaged container and flying around in a dervish of white paper.

"Well, no one can say…" Danny said as he turned back around to face the Box Ghost.

And realized two things.

One, the Box Ghost was no longer there: he was instead leaping across car rooftops towards the U-Haul filled with the precious boxes he wanted so much.

And two, and the honking horn was a big tipoff, the driver of the car he had saved from being mailboxed hadn't thought to hit the brakes. So now it would hit Danny…

If he wasn't a Phantom, as he panicked and did the only thing he could think of: turn intangible. However, his "turn intangible" command was panicked and jumbled, so in the end, Danny only did it for about a second.

The end result was him phasing through the front of the car and ending up in the shotgun seat before he stopped, his back slamming into the chair, which wouldn't have been so bad…if he hadn't had the Fenton Thermos attached to his back. A bolt of pain shot through his body, the kind that drives the air from your lungs before you can make any noise to indicate your dislike of it.

"Ohhhhhhhh…." Danny finally groaned after a few seconds. "That's going to leave a mark."

Then he recalled he was in a car, and he looked to his side to see a very freaked soccer mom. If he'd looked in the back, he would have seen some very freaked soccer kids.

"Heh, hi." Danny said, waving, and then his mind returned to business as he flew up, phasing through the car roof and returning to normal so he was standing on the car. He saw the Box Ghost in the distance, leaping towards his prize. His eyes narrowed, and he backed up and ran a few steps before he leapt off the roof of the car and forward to the roof of the car in front of him. He hit the roof running and leapt off the end, leaping onto the back of a SUV. He started sprinting down the roof of that…

And stopped.

"Wait, what am I doing?" He said, and then flew up and took off after the Box Ghost.

"All mine! All mine!" The Box Ghost said, as the car he was on, which was about a car away from the U-Haul, went through an orange traffic light which turned red half a second later. The traffic stream began to slow down and stop, as an 18-wheeler drove through the intersection…

Danny flew in, not slowing in the slightest, as with a whirling spin he flew through the small space between the truck and the trailer, the daredevil maneuver giving him a burst of adrenaline, and he whooped with joy. It was times like this that he loved who he was.

The Box Ghost, with one final leap, flew up and landed near the front of the U-Haul's square trailer. Though we really must wonder why he didn't just fly himself. Maybe he wanted some exercise…or a challenge…or maybe he's just an idiot. Probably the last one.

And Danny landed on the back of the truck.

"Ok Box Ghost, end of the line!" He said.

"Never! You have failed to heed my warnings! Now I will peel you from my life like a piece of tape off a box!" The Box Ghost said, and raised his arms. "Come my treasures! Show that you are deadly weapons as well!"

Silence.

And though it was hard to hear over the noise of the traffic, Danny could make out faint thuds beneath him. He smiled, as the Box Ghost looked astounded, as if he couldn't comprehend what was happening.

"Guess it's hard for cardboard to go through a few inches of solid steel." He said. "Hey, if you give up now, you can probably get caught by Walker in the Ghost Zone in time for the Prison's supper."

"Never! I may be the Box Ghost, FEARME, but I do not need boxes to fight my battles!" The Box Ghost said, as he put up his dukes. Danny smirked.

"Lemme guess…" Danny said as he walked forward, confident he could dodge any punch the Box Ghost threw at him. "Boxing?"

"No!"

And the Box Ghost's leg suddenly snapped up, in a move that was a lot quicker then Danny had thought the Box Ghost could move. He yelled as the limb slammed into his chest and sent him flying back, his feet leaving the truck top and the slipstream catching him and carrying him towards the back even as he started to spin backwards from the force of the kick.

"KICKboxing!" The Box Ghost said, and chortled, as Danny approached the end, even as he fell towards the truck again.

He thrust out his arms.

And found himself balancing on the very edge of the truck in a precarious handstand, swaying slightly as he realized what kind of position he was in…and that if he fell off, he'd be turned to hamburger if he stayed solid and wind up in the sewer if he went intangible.

"Ah! Mustn't fall mustn't slip mustn't mustn't mustn't…" Danny chanted to himself as he tried to lean forward, and he felt sweet relief as his legs and trunk tipped towards the truck and he landed on his back at the end. He got up as the Box Ghost laughed and assumed a combat pose again.

"You see? I am not like before, Danny Phantom! I have learned from my past defeats! Now you will never be able to beat me! I am glorious! I am invincible! I am the Box Ghost! Fear me!" The Box Ghost gloated. "Now what do you have to say to that?"

Danny Phantom watched, and then another smile slipped onto his features as he suddenly knelt down, placing one hand contently on his right cheek.

"Low bridge." Danny said.

And the stone embankment slammed into the back of the Box Ghost's head, as he learned the hard way it's not a good idea to be standing up on top of a truck when it is going under a low overpass. The Box Ghost, sent into an uncontrollable tumble by the impact, flew past Danny as the teenager stepped aside, and then fell off the end, falling down to the road. As the end of the truck went under the bridge as well, Danny did a lazy backflip off the end himself and landed, the impact driving him to his knees. Fortunately, they must have passed another traffic light that had turned red just after the truck had passed, because there was no traffic in the street.

"Man, dontcha wish that intangibility was a reflexive thing, like breathing?" Danny said as he approached the Box Ghost, slipping the Thermos off his back. "Oh wait, you don't do breathing either. My mistake!"

"Iam da Gox Boast! Feeermi!" The Box Ghost mumbled, as Danny opened the Thermos and sucked in the wayward spirit, slipping the cap on and giving it a spin.

"Well, he might not be a glorious recurring enemy, but at least he sparks my creativity." Danny said, and flew off into the air to meet up with Tucker and Sam again.

* * *

"Hey Danny." Jazz said as Danny and his friends entered the Fenton House. Danny instinctively tensed up. He loved his sister, but he still felt uneasy around her, though he could never put his finger on why. "How was school?" 

"Oh…the same! Yeah, same stuff different day! Ha! I need to see Mom now." Danny said, and quickly ducked into the kitchen, Tucker and Sam at his heels. Jazz smiled slightly: she'd seen the Thermos sticking out of the back of Danny's backpack.

"Hope it was a happy hunt." She said, and returned her attention to her psychology book.

Danny and Co found his mother in the kitchen, in full costume as always. Danny couldn't remember the last time he had seen his mother in normal clothes rather then the blue jumpsuit with pull-up goggled hood she wore.

"Mom?"

"Just a second Danny…" Maddie Fenton said as she finished welding a small circuit in the device she was fiddling with: its parts were strewn around the table and Danny couldn't tell what exactly what it was. Though it would probably have the words Fenton Ghost in front of it. "Yes son?"

"Sam's parents bought this amulet, it had weird markings on it, and some people said there might be some connection with the supernatural." Danny said.

"With ghosts?" Maddie replied, taking her hood down.

"Well, it said supernatural Mrs. Fenton, I don't know specifically…" Sam said, as she pulled her backpack in front of her, opened it and retrieved the rolled up sketch. "Here, take a look."

Maddie Fenton took the sketch and looked at it. Her lips pursed, and then she turned towards the table, shoving the parts aside gently as she laid the sketch down and retrieved a small magnifying glass. She passed it over the sketch, as the three teens looked on.

"Hmmmmmmm…" She said after about twenty seconds. "I can't exactly give a professional opinion…but I think it's Sumerian."

"Sumerian?" Danny said.

"You mean the people who most historians consider to be the very first civilization?" Tucker said.

Danny and Sam stared at Tucker.

"What? I can't know stuff?" He protested.

"You're right Tucker…Sumerians are a bit of a thorny issue, as in terms of history they literally seemed to spring up overnight…and their history makes vague references to "higher beings" that helped them do this. Then again, anything that happened before the 19th century, when record keeping really started to be professional is heavily open to interpretation." Maddie said, as she leaned up from her close examination. "I think this is something in the Sumerian's language."

"Can you read it?" Sam asked.

"Well…I took a smattering of language courses when I first met Danny's father, at the time I thought that a lot of the ghosts would be tied to old things and you never know when you might need to dust out a so called dead language…but my ancient Sumerian is very rusty."

"The fact that you know Ancient Sumerian at ALL is pretty darn impressive." Came a voice from the doorway, Jazz's specifically, which made everyone except Maddie start. She just gave her daughter a look of warm humor.

"Well my dear, you may think so…but if you do I don't recommend you go into academia. They're more vicious then a pack of blood-crazed sharks…" Maddie said as she examined the sketch again. "Ok…now don't quote me on this…but I think the top line here says "Willing and unwilling unite."

The teens look at each other in the way of people who don't understand something and are checking to see if anyone else did.

"The bottom line I'm really not sure about…though I don't know if it's from the drawing or the fact that it seemed to be smeared a bit…" Maddie said. Danny felt a brief flash of the old rage ignite: he knew where that smear had come from. Dash's foot grinding on Danny's hand. _Jerk._

"Also, I think that part of whatever this is was lost…" Maddie said, pointing to the same broken looking bit Danny had noticed. "But if you really want an answer…I would venture… 'For true…something, can't figure that word out…look.' I think there's another word after that, but I have no idea what it is."

"So it says 'Willing and unwilling unite, for true something look lost word'?" Sam said.

"That's all I can tell. You might want to consult an expert on languages. I specialize in…"

"GHOSTS!" Came a sudden bellow, as Jack Fenton seemed to suddenly come out of nowhere, making everyone jump this time. For such a huge man, Danny's father could certainly move quietly at times…and the results were usually like this. "Hey kids! Glad to see you! Now I can show you my latest invention!"

"Uh no Mr. Fenton, that's ok, gee, look at the time, must get started on homework…" Tucker said, as he started to edge away.

"Oh, so you want to see my latest improvement first them? Ok!" Jack Fenton said, totally oblivious to the fact that the only one who shared his fanatical interest was his wife, as he pulled out a small device. "I improved the Fenton Ghost Finder! Now it can tell you how strong a ghost is! Which will be helpful when we need to kick their butts!" Jack said, and in his enthusiasm, which had made him start waving the device around, his finger slipped and he hit the button while pointing the device at Danny.

"This ghost is not very powerful. Fear him anyway." The device said. Jack's enthusiasm faded.

"Ah nuggets! It's STILL reading Danny as a ghost! Why do ALL my inventions have this glitch?" Jack cursed. It was a good thing Jack was looking at his device and everyone else was looking at Jack: it kept them from seeing Jazz frantically repress a furious case of the giggles.

"Well, that's great Mr. Fenton, but like Tucker said, we have homework to do! You can keep the sketch Mrs. Fenton!" Sam said as she grabbed Tucker and pulled him from the room. Danny turned and looked pleadingly after them, his eyes begging them to not leave him alone with his father, but all he got in returned was the good natured maliciousness of friends leaving another friend in a situation they know he will find uncomfortable but not harm him in any way.

Probably.

"Hey, but…"

"Actually Dad, I need to use the washroom!" Danny said, and also skedaddled. Well, at least his lie was a white one: he really needed to empty something. But it wasn't his bladder, it was the Thermos into the portal.

Jazz's eyes looked like a deer caught in the headlights as Jack fixed his attention on his daughter.

"Wait dad…"

"Oh don't worry dearie, it will be short!" Jack said as he reached into a pocket. Jazz sighed inwardly. She loved her mom and dad, but her dad was always like this, and worse, his personality seemed to rub off on her mother whenever he was around and turned her into a clone of him, which was fine…except Jazz preferred the intellectual she had seen just a minute ago when her mom was looking at the sketch, not the woman with the wide eyed expression like a child seeing Christmas presents under the tree.

"Behold!" Jack said as he pulled out his newest device. "The Fenton Ghost Incapacitator! It isolates certain electrical frequencies in the ghost's brain and knocks the ghost out immediately!"

The Fenton Ghost Incapacitator looked like a pair of brass knuckles: it was a small device that went around the fingers on a hand, the actual device emerging from the knuckles as the hand gripped the handle…and it was also one of the stupidest devices she had ever seen, as Jazz's logic immediately came to bear on what her dad said the device would do.

"Um, dad…?"

"Marvelous, isn't it? But just wait until you see what we're building in the back yard! Now that…"

"Dad…"

"Of course I wonder if it's illegal to have that much incinerary…"

"DAD!"

"Yes dear?" Jack said, as if he had never been ignoring her.

"Dad…that…Incapacitator…you say it knocks ghosts out."

"Yes!"

"How?"

"I told you, it isolates…"

"Dad…hang on a second…ok, let's assume for a second that ghosts really DO exist, and I'm not saying they do…" Jazz said half-heartedly, as the sentence was not so much her opinion as her attempt to keep her dad from thinking she had changed her minds on ghosts, which would most likely result in some kind of information blitzkrieg, she was sure. "But if they do…spirits don't have physical bodies like us. They're made of a lot more immaterial stuff…do ghosts even HAVE brains?"

Silence.

"Well, I don't know, but hey, Einstein turned himself all kind of colors before he invented the light bulb! You need to experiment! It's just a prototype at the moment, but believe me, when I am done, there isn't a ghost this device won't knock out!" Jack said, thumping his chest to emphasize his point.

And accidentally setting off the Incapacitator, which fired a small blue beam that struck Maddie Fenton in the head. She looked confused for a second, and then tumbled to the ground, knocked out. Jazz's eyes widened.

"Mom!"

"Maddie!" Jack said, as he looked at his fallen wife, then at the device on his hand, and then he pulled it off and tossed it on the table as he started to head for her…

The device bounced on the table…and fired again, striking Jack in the back. He went down like a felled tree, as Jazz stood, frozen in shock at these sudden events.

Then her dad began to snore, and her shock and worry faded, replaced by aggravation.

"All kinds of colors, indeed." Jazz said, and went over to her mother. She was fine, just knocked out. Jazz was about to check her father when Danny ran into the kitchen.

"I heard two thuds. That's usually bad." Danny said as he ran in, seeing his parents lying on the ground. "Oh god, what happened?"

"Dad's latest pet bit the hand that fed him. We may need to chalk up the Fenton Ghost Incapacitator as a working product with the wrong name. " Jazz said, as she strained herself rolling over her dad's huge form. She checked his pulse and found it strong, and then she checked his nose, as he had fallen on his face and she didn't want blood to pour down his throat and suffocate him because they were unaware of the damage.

But there was no nasal damage. What there was was a lot of drool, as Jack Fenton snored loudly. Pulling her hand away in disgust, Jazz pulled away, letting her Dad's head thunk lightly on the ground. The ghost hunter didn't seem to notice.

"You watch them, I'll get the smelling salts." Jazz said as she left the room. Not knowing what else to do, Danny headed over to his parent's prone forms and knelt between them.

"Hmmmmm….pony…" Jack muttered in his sleep. Danny couldn't help but smile at that.

"….Mmmmm..ahh…no pony…don't go to the slaughterhouse…" Jack said in his sleep.

Danny was suddenly very afraid.

* * *

The ammonia needed to wake up her parents wasn't in the medicine cabinet. And if it wasn't there, Jazz knew, it could only be one other place: the basement where her dad did all his weirdness…and where the portal that had changed her brother into whatever he was was. 

Why?

Because that was the way her dad was: he'd go on thinking jags that were akin to the ramblings of madmen at times and grab random things to bring down there because he thought he might need them. In the past Jazz had found oven mitts, her toothbrush, the air pump to her old bicycle, the paintings in their house, the front door mat, and even her bedspread down in the basement. One time, after watching _Poltergeist, _Jack had taken all the TV's downstairs to see if he could get anything to happen. The only thing it got was the fact that the Fentons only had one TV to watch now.

So Jazz headed down there.

The portal was open, glowing green energy swirling around, but Jazz barely noticed: she was used to it. Instead, she focused on the mess of workbenches, hoping she could find the small vial she needed.

But if it was down there (and Jazz was pretty sure it was), it proved perilously elusive. After hunting for four minutes, Jazz was highly frustrated. She glanced over to the Ghost Portal, and feeling the need to vent, she turned towards it.

"You think you're so funny, don't you?" She addressed the portal. "Sitting there all smug. You drive my dad to distraction, and drag my mom along with him, and do whatever the heck you did to my brother…..ohhhhh, you make me so mad!" Jazz snapped, and then she turned away from the portal, planning her next sweep.

She never saw the willowy figure slip from within the green swirling energy…but she felt it.

Because she was suddenly aware of heat behind her. A great deal of heat, as if someone had just focused the sun through a magnifying glass on her back…or started a fire behind her. And she was just about to speak…when IT spoke.

"We all go a little mad sometimes…"

Jazz whirled.

The figure was right up close to her. Jazz's eyes went as wide as saucers. Its form was wavery and shifting…but she could make out the vague pattern that might have once been a one-piece bathing suit outfit, of hair once tied back in a high ponytail, of a face that might have been lovely once.

But such details were hard to be certain, because the figure was on fire. Like a human completely awash in flames, the figure…the woman floated there, a few inches off the ground…ground that was hissing and actually starting to redden, which in the back of her head scared Jazz even more because such heat required to do that would burn her to ash yet she was right up close and how what how where how WHAT…?

"…Who are you?" Jazz stammered. The woman, her face composed of burning flame, her features all blurring together in the shifting blaze…smiled a bit.

"They called me Sizzle." She said. "And they will again."

Jazz's scream rang through the entire household.

* * *

And far far away, on the coast of Florida, past a city and to an island, on which rested a building shaped like a huge T, into a dark room…another female floated, a female with pale skin and lovely dark features, with purple-black hair and a dark purple cloak, sat in mid-air, floating off the ground, her legs crossed, her arms out, and her mind in deep meditation as she reached out and connected with the universe. 

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarath, Metrion…" Raven chanted.

And then it hit her like a bolt of lightning. Her eyes snapped open.

"Oh no." She whispered. "Not again. Not HER."


	2. Sparks: Where There's Smoke

Chapter 2: Where There's Smoke

"A store-house of evil is a woman if she is depraved."

-_Proverbs_

There are some things that you just do not tell people.

Sometimes out of embarrassment (what good would Danny bring if he told Sam that she had begun appearing in his dreams like THAT?), sometimes out of necessity (Tucker was his best friend, but even Danny wished he would stop talking sometimes), and sometimes because telling them really had no point.

And one of those things, as Danny suddenly felt the familiar uncomfortableness as his changed body sensed a fellow, was that Danny had begun to notice slight differences when his ghost sense triggered.

Ironically, he had first come to notice it due to the fact that the Box Ghost was always showing up. After running into him a dozen times, Danny had begun to notice that an odd feeling permuted his mouth, the combination of his nostrils and taste buds sensing something that his physical form just could not properly convey to his brain. It was faint and quickly faded into nothingness, but it was noticeable if you were alert. The exact feeling, or taste, as taste was the sense that seemed to be better able to pick it up, was of a slight sourness, and a very faint hint of something soggy, like oatmeal, there and gone in a second. Danny had been stumped on exactly that was though…until one day when he had been out and about and seen a mother chastising her toddler son for chewing on the letter she was about to mail. It was that that made Danny remember: he had chewed some paper when he was that age too. What he felt was almost like chewing a piece of paper…or maybe paper's cousin, cardboard.

Once he had the concept down, Danny had begun to notice other faint traces of uniqueness in his foes. Skulker, for example, had a strong wild feeling, which Danny felt was what you would smell if you were fighting up close with a furious gorilla of the old adventure pulps, a primal scent so fierce it spilled over onto taste as well. On the other hand, Penelope Spectra was almost all taste, a faint feeling of intense bitterness at the back of his mouth. And Vlad…Danny still couldn't place Vlad's…but it felt familiar. VERY familiar. Which made sense, he supposed.

Problem was, Danny didn't go around all day in a state of readiness for ghosts to attack (heck no, that would denote he WANTED to fight with the ghosts, and quite frankly he would prefer it if they stayed in the Ghost Zone and played Solitaire or did whatever they did to pass eternity), and hence if a ghost showed up and it was someone new, Danny wouldn't be able to notice any distinguishable characteristics at all. It would take several appearances before he could pin down their sign.

Usually.

This time though, Danny didn't even have to be aware of what has happened. The message he got, instead of the usual soft, barely there whisper, was instead this time the equivalent of someone bellowing directly into his ear.

What came out of his mouth BURNED. And not a slight burn, like Ember's: we were talking a "just ate ten jalapenos" burning sensation, the mother of all peppers, the feeling of brimstone from hell, as Danny gasped both at the sensation of the detection and the realization there was someone around…

And then Jazz screamed.

"Huh? Wha? JAZZ!" Danny yelled, as he scrambled to his feet. He already knew where to go, as he ran out of the kitchen, down the hall, and down into the basement.

(And if he had possessed a more tactical mindset instead of that of a junior high student, he might have just transformed and phased through the floor. Then AGAIN, maybe the fact that he didn't was an indication that he had more tactical sense then he realized, as it would be damn inconvenient if Danny Phantom just happened to pop up when there was a problem involving ghosts, considering the weird way his sister already acted which may or may not have indicated she had strong suspicions…)

Danny ran into the room, and his heart leapt into his throat as he saw Jazz lying on the floor, thrashing a bit.

Then she stopped.

The motion Jazz made then, as she rolled over and put an arm down to push herself, was enough for Danny to know something was very wrong. It wasn't a casual "Oh I need to get up" motion: it was almost PREDATORY, like a tiger digging its claws into the dirt in anticipation of a soon to be caught and killed meal.

Jazz stood up, her back to Danny.

Then she jerked her neck to the side, producing a loud popping noise that startled Danny even more, as Jazz cracked her neck back and forth a few times, and then raised her hands, looking at them.

The fact that her back was to Danny kept him from seeing the great satisfaction in her eyes…except these were no longer Jazz's cool blue eyes. These eyes were so brown they were almost black…and their whites weren't white, they were red…the red you see in the heart of a campfire.

"Ahhhhhh…it's good to have flesh again. Been…too long…and yet…" Sizzle said, as her eyes suddenly grew distant.

…_Daddy nooooooooo…_

Sizzle's eyes snapped back to reality, a brief flash of furious rage flickering over the eyes and over Jazz's features.

"Not this time. This time, they all burn." Sizzle said.

"Hey!"

Sizzle raised both her eyebrows, and then she turned and looked at the young man who had been standing behind her. The memories that were already flooding into her being identified him as the host's younger brother…which was perfect by her.

"Hello little boy." Sizzle said, and smiled. Danny felt a chill seize in the deepest part of his guts. His sister was giving him an expression she could have never given in her life, an expression she would never know HOW to give: it was the vicious look of a sadist discovering a new source of fun.

"Who are you? What are you doing…get out of my sister!" Danny yelled.

"….Noooooo…I don't think I'll be doing thattttttt…" Sizzle said, as she took a few steps forward, briefly revealing in the simple motion. Too long without solid form, too long spent floating and wisping through strange realities and planes of existence, only wanting to return, to pay them all back for their crimes, and finally finding a door…and a host…and something to take her long starved sense of fury out on.

She'd make this boy a masterpiece of agony. Even the Marquis wouldn't be able to comprehend what she was going to do…what this boy deserved. What all his breed did.

"I think…I'll be staying…and you'll be going. Specifically, your temperature will be going, up…and up…"

Fire exploded on Sizzle's hand. Danny could feel the heat even from the fifteen-foot distance, and he goggled. If he could feel such intense temperature from over HERE, the fire should have surely ignited Jazz's clothing, catch light to her hair, started to sizzle the thin flesh off her face like bacon…but Jazz didn't look like she noticed a thing.

Because she didn't. She wasn't Jazz. She was Sizzle, the Lord and Master of the Inferno, and the boy in front of her…was a slowly burning fuel.

VERY slowly.

"In fact, may as well just chop the top off the thermometer." Sizzle said, and laughed. If the grin Sizzle had given him had chilled Danny's guts, this laugh sent them straight into arctic temperatures. If sickness had a sound…Danny was pretty sure it would be like Sizzle's laugh.

As the laugh turned into a yell as Sizzle thrust out her hand and fired a long stream of flame at Danny, the tip glowing pure white…

Even rolling out of the way, his clothes nearly caught fire, as the spear of flame zapped past him and struck the wall, splashing against the metal and sinking its fangs into it instead. After a second, the flame cut off, and Danny gaped at the result: a hole four feet in circumference in which the metal was oozing out like hot wax, part of it glowing dully. Danny may have been a straight C student, but he knew how much heat it took to make metal resemble caramel…and how dangerous the force that had possessed his sister was if she could not only muster that kind of heat into existence within a few seconds but exert such high control over it that her flesh and blood host wasn't even annoyed by the temperature.

He looked back at Sizzle, who was staring at Danny in confusion. And we can't really blame her, can we? The boy wasn't supposed to move. He was supposed to stand there in shock and horror…and then burn…and burn…and burn…

"You…moved?" She said.

"I can do a lot more then THAT." Danny said, as he stood up and fired up his own self, as the rings appeared and swept over him, changing him to Danny Phantom. And at the time he was more glad that he was the Halfa then ever before, because now he could fight, and fight he would: as aggravated as they made him, NO ONE threatened his family.

"Ok lady. I'm Danny Phantom. This can end two ways. Get out of my sister, or get hurt." Danny snapped.

Again the lack of a tactical mindset reared it's ugly head, as Danny should have known that, the fact that he's known this new threat for thirty seconds notwithstanding, that you shouldn't make threats to something like that.

The way fire flashed, literally, across his sister's eyes, sharply pointed the fact out to him, even as he realized ANOTHER tactical flaw in his vow…

"BURN!" Sizzle screamed, throwing up her other arm and firing an even more concentrated blast of flame at Danny. Danny dodged to the side and flew along the wall as Sizzle followed him with the stream, the outburst of flame carving a smoking, molten line behind the ghost teen, the heat making his father's notes and books catch on fire and his chemicals beakers explode as Danny flew over a table and then away from the wall, as Sizzle stopped her blast, her eyes looking at Danny in blazing fury due to the fact that the teenager had dodged AGAIN. He wasn't supposed to move, he was supposed to SUFFER.

"I SAID BURN!" Sizzle screamed, as she again fired a twin handed stream of fire. Danny flew up to avoid it, and the fire flew through the swirling green energy of the Ghost Portal. Whether the combustible reaction of oxygen could do anything in there, we don't know, but if it could, a few spirits probably wound up feeling the heat.

Sizzle looked up at where Danny was floating near the ceiling, not sure what to do. He had just realized something: the ghost was in his sister…which meant it was pretty much untouchable. What was he going to do, hit his own sister? Knowing his luck that would just hurt Jazz and make the spirit inside even ANGRIER, if that was possible. So what should he do, turn intangible and fly into his sister and yank out the spirit that possessed her? That seemed like a good plan, except for one thing: if he turned intangible, and the flames went through him…well, this force had clearly shown no qualms about setting everything else on fire if it couldn't hit its target, and he didn't want to burn his own house down…

"BURN BOY!" Sizzle screamed, as a ball of fire the size of a basketball exploded into being above her right hand, and she hurled it at Danny. Danny's infantile strategic abilities were rudely interrupted as he had to dodge to the side, and then yelp and dodge again at the last second as the fireball exploded on the ceiling and sent off several arcing tongues of flame that reached out hungrily for him. Danny flew back down to the floor as Sizzle ignited and fired another ball of flame at him, and another, and another, more parts of the lab igniting and exploding as the heat claimed them, and there was beginning to be smoke, and Danny's ghost form, perhaps due to his human side, still had to breath…

He had to get Jazz, or whatever was inside Jazz, outside. Then he could work on freeing Jazz…

Who was giving a low growling snarl, the sound of a rabid animal, as Danny dodged out of the way of her fireballs, her rage growing with every miss…so she decided the next one wouldn't miss, as she raised her hands above her.

"I told you to burn boy…" Sizzle growled as fire ignited above her and grew, forming into a ball that rapidly expanded past the basketball size she had been using before and grew to beach ball, then oversized beach ball, and then beyond. "And when Sizzle says burn, I MEAN BURN!"

"Ho boy." Danny said as he looked at the huge sphere of fire Sizzle had summoned. Sizzle smiled at him, a lopsided, twisted grin of pure carnage.

"You're going to burn now." Sizzle said matter of factly, and the orb of flame flew at Danny.

Danny dodged out of the way, and smartly turned around as he did so: it let him see that the ball had immediately looped around, melting a slight line across the left wall and ceiling as it flew at Danny again. Danny yelped and flew away, the ball at his heels. He could feel the intense heat, and if he looked back he might have seen his boots starting to smoke, so its probably best that he kept looking forward as he flew low to the floor, darting past Sizzle, who was just watching and smiling a contented smile, as Danny turned around and saw the ball of flame still chasing him…and coming right up to Jazz's body, which was right in its way and showed no intention of moving.

"NO!" Danny screamed.

The globe enveloped Jazz, her form immediately becoming a black silhouette as the fire consumed her, and then even that vanished.

"JAZZ!" Danny screamed, and then he had to fly again as the ball was still coming after him, as he flew up to the ceiling…

And nearly stopped in pure shock.

His sister was still there. And far from being vaporized, she didn't have a hair out of place. Danny couldn't believe it. Bad enough the force could summon such heat…but with such terrifying fine control that she could envelop a human body, of her choice, in it and come out with not even a sunburn?

And then Danny had to start moving again because the ball was snapping at his rear, and he doubted that if it caught him he'd come out of it as well as his sister, or rather the evil inside her, had. All her plans faded away for one goal: he had to get out of the house.

And wisely, he did not go up the stairs. Instead, he went through the ceiling, phasing through, hoping he could remember the layout of his house enough so…

He phased out through the concrete about twenty feet from his house. He flew up a few feet into the air and stopped for a second…

The fireball erupted from the ground, melting right through the concrete and causing the stone around it to expand violently from the intense heat, which resulted in it exploding, forcing Danny to turn intangible to avoid being riddled with red-hot pebbles, and then the fireball was flying at him and he was running again.

A car driving towards him turned abruptly to the side at the sight of the ghost boy being chased by the sphere of flame, the car crashing into a storefront as Danny flew past it, wondering how he was going to get away, because the ball would just not stop…

Then he saw it, and made a beeline for it.

He was glad there was no one on the sidewalk, as he zipped down onto it, the ball following, melting a line in the street and causing storefront windows and newspaper vending machines to explode, even as Danny reached it…

And phased through the fire hydrant.

The fireball followed, melting right through the red metal…

And getting caught in the immediate high-pressure geyser of water that exploded from the destroyed construct. Steam bloomed out in huge clouds and immediately enveloped Danny Phantom, though he was too far away to get burned by THAT as well, as the fireball immediately shrank and then poofed out of existence.

Danny stopped, and then floated down to the ground, panting, gasping for air…

And then he realized his mistake. In his haste to get away, he'd left that…thing (What had she called herself? Sizzle?) in the basement. He thought for sure she'd follow…but what if she didn't? What if she went upstairs…oh god, his mom, his dad!

Danny floated up and began flying back towards the Fenton household.

And then they flew from the steam, the clouds completely covering the street like a thick fog, lines of something, lines of red, that were flying at him…

Danny Phantom had no idea he had such good reflexes, or that his body could twist into such a shape…but the daggers of fire still hit him, clipping his shoulder and his side, as he screamed as the top layers of his skin were literally VAPORIZED, as the pain made him lose his concentration and fall to the ground, though he managed to stay in his Phantom form, in the old days sudden sharp pain would break his connection, and that was the last thing…

A shadow was appearing in front of him, walking slowly, and a moment later Sizzle stepped through the clouds. She cocked her head and looked at Danny, and Danny felt a brief surge of relief. She'd followed him after all. His parents were safe…

Because she had decided to concentrate on incinerating him. His relief quickly faded.

"Danny Phantom…" She chuckled, her furious rage having swung over to a more merry part of her madness. "You know what they say, don't you? The good die young."

And Sizzle raised her hand, her fingers flexed in a claw shape, as she fired five more daggers of flame from her fingers and thumb.

Danny flew up, the knives of fire slashing into the ground where he had just been, as he immediately recalled part 2 of his plan: he had to help Jazz. New problem: despite being outside the same predicament faced him: if he went intangible, Sizzle could easily light a building or two on fire. So Danny came to a hard decision: if he couldn't yank Sizzle out of her host, he'd make the host useless to her. Which meant he had to attack his sister, and he hated himself for not coming up with a better plan…but it was all he could think of in the literal heat of the moment.

But at least he knew where to aim: her temple. Big burly men had been knocked unconscious with proper blows to the forehead, so Danny was sure he could knock out his 110 pounds soaking wet sister with a brief kick to her head. He hoped she'd forgive him, as he abruptly changed direction and zapped down, his leg pistoning out, trying to catch Sizzle by surprise…

He didn't, not enough, as she tried to dodge, and instead of hitting her on her forehead Danny's leg clipped the right side of her face as he flew past her, even as he realized what he had done and rage and shame flooded through him, rage at missing and at the fact by dodging Sizzle had ended up hurting his sister, and shame at having to do this in the first place, even as he landed and flew forward a few feet before he turned around.

He was greatly surprised to see Sizzle still with her back to him.

Then she slowly raised her right arm, and Danny got ready for an attack, but it wasn't: instead Sizzle brought her arm up to her face.

And then she turned around, and Danny could see the line of blood coming from the corner of her mouth, blood Sizzle touched her hand to, the tips coming away crimson, as she looked at the small wound Danny had inflicted at her like a doctor might have looked at a finally discovered cure for cancer: a brief moment of absolute, utter shock and disbelief that this had happened.

But a scientist might have then had an intense reaction of euphoria…but that wasn't going to happen with Sizzle. At least not the euphoria part.

"You…touched…me." She said.

From those words, Danny realized he was in trouble. But even he didn't realize how much.

Sizzle lowered her hand a bit, looking at the blood.

"You…………touched…………me……."

And she looked at Danny.

Danny had thought he had seen rage before, but what was in Sizzle's eyes now made her previous expressions look like warm smiles.

"**_YOU TOUCHED ME!"_**

And Sizzle clenched both hands shut even as she threw back her head and screamed. And this was a not a normal scream, this was a sound no human throat by itself could ever make, as Danny clamped his hands over his ears.

And then down the block, the buildings on each side of the street exploded, flames blasting out through the windows and doors as both buildings erupted in a five-alarm blaze. Danny recoiled…and then recoiled even more as the buildings next to it exploded, and the next ones, and then the ones around Danny as the entire street went up in an firestorm of fury and hatred, the heat, smoke, and debris pelting Danny as the whole street burned around him, even as it rained fire for blocks around from the explosion, and even as walls of fire licked around her, Sizzle lowered her head and looked at Danny with eyes so black and deep they seemed endless, an eternal pit of wrath.

And in his heart, Danny knew that this wasn't like any of his other foes. This wasn't Skulker, a hunter who wanted special things, or Vlad Plasmius, who wanted power for his own gains. This wasn't Spectra, who wanted misery, or Ember, who wanted worship, or Johnny 13, who seemed to want trouble.

If he could put a name to it…

Sometimes, almost always in that period between alertness and sleep, Danny Fenton had had a few deep thoughts of what exactly the Ghost Zone was. It was linked to death, so Danny often pondered it in religious terms. It didn't strike him as Heaven or Hell, or any of the places you supposedly went after you died for a reward or punishment…so what was it? Limbo, perhaps, or maybe Purgatory? The waiting room for one of those four? Or maybe it was something else entirely, something so different no human had ever classified it into theology or myth, a true brave new world that a few people would see.

But if it had released something like this…then maybe Danny had been wrong about his Heaven and Hell analogy.

Because this force was from Hell, straight from the lower circles…or maybe in a way it was a soul or a spirit or an essence that had somehow escaped Hell…but in the end, it hadn't escaped at all.

Because Hell was in it.

And it was hungry.

As fire swept all around Danny, the heat hammering him from every angle, as he finally lowered his hands from his ears and looked at Sizzle, who was looking back to him with an expression that proved that if looks could kill, Danny would have become more then half ghost.

"I'll burn you down to your very atoms." Sizzle hissed, and raised her arms.

Once again a ball of flame erupted above her body, but this time, it didn't stop at basketball or beach size. It kept growing, and growing, even as Amity Park blazed around him and the heat from the fire growing above Sizzle began to melt the concrete around her, her form becoming surrounded by a sea of molten tar, as Danny tried to think despite the terrible heat and the flames and the people caught in the buildings and why did this happen what did he ever do why did he have to fight this fight his sister why couldn't he have incapacitated her…

Wait…

Sizzle didn't blink as Danny rose up from the ground, and then he flew away.

"GO AHEAD! RUN! RUN ALL THE WAY TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH! I'LL FIND YOU, BOY!" Sizzle screamed after him, even as she continued to make her ball of fire grow, even as she prepared to send it after the boy who she had seen and who refused to die for her like he should have, because he was a male and they all owed her a pound of flesh, and with interest she was going to take a ton…

And then Danny was back, flying back in and getting as close as he could to Sizzle with the terrible heat from the forces she commanded.

"So…you came back…but don't expect any mercy boy. Your kind deserves none." Sizzle said.

"Girl, you don't belong here. You belong on Springer." Danny said. "So in the spirit of that…talk to the hand!"

And Danny held out the so-called Fenton Ghost Incapacitator, except it wouldn't incapacitate Sizzle, but Danny knew what it would do, and that was all he needed.

And Sizzle, realizing what it was from the memories of Jazz, widened her eyes in shock.

"NO!" She screamed, and tried to throw her ball of fire.

Too late, as Danny activated the device and a bolt of blue energy flew out, striking Jazz in the forehead, and for a moment her form wavered, and Danny wondered if it would work…and then Jazz crumbled to the ground.

The fireball immediately vanished, as if it never was.

And Sizzle pulled herself from Jazz's form. Danny had been on the mark: she could subvert her host's body and will to her desires, but she couldn't command an unconscious host. In her pure fire spirit state, she looked at Danny with an expression of rage that would have scared a demon from hell…but it didn't scare Danny Phantom, because he was uncorking the Fenton Thermos.

"NO!"

"Cool off in here!" Danny yelled, as he thrust the Thermos out, and the blue tractor beam esque energy fired out, seizing Sizzle before she could move and yanking her into the Thermos with a scream of pure fury.

And then she was inside, and Danny clamped on the lid on and screwed it shut.

He sighed with relief.

And then he abruptly became re-aware that A) The whole block he was on was still burning down, and B) There were people in those buildings, and C) They were screaming.

"Darn it!" Danny said, as he dropped the Fenton Thermos, took several deep breaths and then turned intangible, flying into the nearest building, zig zapping through flaming rooms until he located someone and grabbed them, pulling them out immediately or following their directions (if they managed to give any in the fact that they were being saved by an intangible flying boy who was pulling them through walls) to other people in whatever building he was in. It wasn't all good, as he sometimes found he had been too late…but for the most part he managed to save everyone he located, pulling them out and away from the fire even as fire sirens rang in the distance.

And in the process, noted something odd: the victims he found were all male. The only injuries the females he found were suffering from was smoke inhalation…which made no considering that the way those buildings had exploded, some of them should have been disintegrated…kind of like his sister should have when that ball of flame enveloped…

Oh god, Jazz!

Danny flew back into the flaming street, nearly getting crushed by a falling, flaming telephone pole, as he zipped in to where his sister lay. He landed nearby and lifted her body up, and she gave a low moan, which gave him some comfort: it meant she was alive. And he couldn't see any injuries.

"Hang on Jazz. I'll get you out of here…in just a second…" Danny said, as he stood up and made his way over to the Thermos: smoke was clouding his vision but he knew where he had left it, and he found it easily enough, and reached down.

It's too bad the smoke obscured his eyesight.

Because when Danny picked the Thermos up, he found it was red-hot. If he hadn't been wearing gloves, he probably would have suffered permanent nerve damage to his hand, and even the gloves weren't much protection as he screamed and threw the Thermos away.

It exploded in mid air. Something sharp hit Danny just above his left eyebrow, the impact knocking him to the ground, and as a greenish substance that in human form was his blood and in his Halfa form was something else entirely ran down his face he looked up at the furious form of Sizzle, floating in the air, her firey body matched by everything around her, a queen of her domain, lord and master of all she surveyed.

But what she was looking at was Danny, with that same expression of murderous hate.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" she screamed.

And then her body suddenly coiled up, her human form twisting into a spiral and then disappearing into thin air.

She had left. For now. Her last expression a promise rather then a current desire.

And a second after she was gone, so was the fire. It wasn't a gradual die out: it was like all the flaming buildings had their fires fed by gas like on older stoves, and the gas had been turned off. Within two seconds Danny had found the section of hell Sizzle had transformed the street into was back on earth.

He winced, looking at his burned hand, but from the very little he knew about medicine, he decided that was a good thing: pain meant the burns weren't too serious. He sighed as he stood up, and then the circles reappeared and returned him back to normal Danny Fenton…who immediately headed for his sister.

The pool of molten tar that had surrounded Jazz when she had been possessed by Sizzle had cooled down enough for Danny to walk on it, though his shoes still stuck as he made his way over to Jazz.

"Jazz? Jazz? Are you ok?" He asked, kneeling down. Jazz murmured. "Jazz?"

"Danny…" Jazz muttered, her voice slurred. Danny was about to help Jazz up, and if necessary carry her to safety…

When her hands suddenly shot out and grabbed the front of his shirt. For a brief, terrible moment, Danny thought Sizzle had somehow tricked him, and that she still resided in his sister, but when Jazz yanked Danny closer to her and Danny saw the look in her eyes, he knew it was still Jazz. However, the terror in her eyes didn't bring much comfort to the situation.

"So…ANGRY…" she whispered, her voice low and potent, and Danny knew she wasn't just babbling: she was giving him a direct warning.

"So…angry…" Jazz said, as her eyes began to tear up, in the way of a human who has seen something he or she cannot comprehend and at the same time understand all too well, in a deep black section of their selves that few people know about and fewer what to admit exist.

"I know Jazz. It's ok. You're ok. You're safe." Danny said.

"Danny…she hates you…"

"It doesn't matter Jazz, as long…"

"No…Danny! You can't…she HATES you…she won't…stop…"

"But…why?" Danny asked.

Perhaps Jazz had an answer to give him, or maybe she had none, but the point was quickly rendered moot as her eyes glazed over and she passed out, her body going limp in Danny's arms.

And so the two siblings lay there, one exhausted and free, and the other exhausted and worried about what the future held, as the smoke and ash from the ruins of an Amity Park street swirled around them.

* * *

And far away, inside a T-Tower, a door opened, and a young man stepped through. 

He was dressed almost all in white: white boots, gloves, shirt, and leather jacket: the only thing not white was his light blue jean-esque pants. It fit his hair, which was also white and stood up from his head in the style many anime fans would immediately recognize, the gravity-defying spiked locks very similar to an anime series that involved gigantic fights and explosions. He was adjusting one of his gloves as he stepped up to a large metal door.

"Please state name." A robotic voice said

"Noel Collins. Savior." Savior said, as a few robotic appendages emerged from the walls around the door and approached him. One went to his face and placed itself around his right eye, while the other went for his left hand, as Savior extended a forefinger. A needle pricked the tip, drawing a bead of blood that was sucked up as the arm retracted.

"Please give personal password."

"Cannon to the right of them, Cannon to the left of them, Cannon in front of them, Volley'd and thunder'd; Storm'd at with shot and shell, Boldly they rock and well, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of hell, Rode the six hundred." Savior said quietly.

A two second pause.

"Password correct. Voice, retina, and DNA scan all confirmed. Welcome back, Savior. How was your day?" Chirped the computer.

"Fine so far, but I doubt that will last if I got an emergency signal." Savior muttered. "Open."

The door in front of Savior opened and Savior walked in, towards another door.

"Lock." He tossed over his shoulder. The door closed and an electronic lock slammed into place. A bazooka would be required to get through.

"Open." Savior said to the second door. It did so. "Lock." That door would requite a few dozen pounds of high quality plastic explosive. In front of him was the last door.

"Open." Savior said, the door did so. He declined to lock the last one: it was so thick and tightly sealed it would take a small tactical nuclear weapon to get in…but it also sealed the room so tight it wouldn't let any air in, and Savior didn't want the door locking by accident and suffocating his teammates and himself. He remembered when he had first arrived at Titan Tower, such security measures had been non-existent. But times had changed.

"Noel, good you could make it." Robin said, as Savior glanced at the table. All his teammates were there, sitting and waiting: Robin, their leader, Starfire the alien Tamaranian, Cyborg the, well, cyborg, Beast Boy the animal changeling, Raven the empath, Terra the earth commander, Gauntlet the artifact wielding jokester, and Scalpel the alien Blacktrinian and team doctor. And if you're a new reader and are wondering why Terra's not a statue and who the heck the last two guys are, well, read my other work. It's not really important to this plot, so don't feel bad if you get confused.

"Took you long enough." Beast Boy smirked good-naturedly.

"Well I wouldn't have taken so long if SOMEONE didn't insist I go all the way across Jump City just to rent movies at a store that gives us a three for one deal." Savior replied.

"Ah, you need the exercise." Beast Boy replied.

"Right, and you need to work on your counter-comebacks. You're slipping, Gar." Savior replied. He did not sit in his chair: he didn't feel like sitting. So instead he stood behind it, his hands gripping the back.

"So, what's happening? House run away? Dog on fire?"

"Raven…" Robin said, deferring to the half-demon sorceress, who also just happened to be Savior's longtime girlfriend. She looked deeply troubled.

"I don't have specifics, so I'll just get to the point: Sizzle's back." Raven said.

Brief silence.

"Back as in back from the dead, back as in cloned, back as in reincarnated, help us out here…" Gauntlet asked.

"Not sure…but I think it's like Murdercrow." Raven said.

"Malevolent spirit?" Savior asked rhetorically.

"Don't quote me on that yet, but yes, I think so." Raven said.

"Great. You know, all the morality of killing and death aside…I just wish at times that when we HAVE had to kill an enemy, they STAY dead." Savior said, pushing away from his chair and walking around the room.

"Where is she?" Terra asked. She hadn't been part of the team when the Titans had fought Genocide, which Sizzle had been a part of, but she had read some files. The woman sounded highly unpleasant.

"I'm not sure…" Raven said as she floated off her chair and over to the computer the Titans had in their basement meeting room. Normally they wouldn't have gone down there for a meeting, but Raven's first sensing of Sizzle's return had given her no idea exactly where she was, and deciding that caution was the better part of valor, she had hit the emergency alarm. By the time all the Titans were down in the room however, she had refined her assessment and discovered that while Sizzle was back, she wasn't anywhere near the Tower or Jump City, but since they were already all there…

"It's hard to translate supernatural inklings into computer data…but I gave it my best…" Raven said, as the screen turned on and a map of the United States appeared. "Judging from what I felt, Sizzle could be anywhere in this area." Raven finished, circling a rather large chunk of the landmass.

"Great. I knew would should have hired Can-Search-A-Few-Thousand-Square-Miles-In-A-Minute Man at our last membership drive." Gauntlet joked. Raven gave him a wry look, and he smiled weakly at her.

"However…if I cross-reference what I felt with the data we have…I think Sizzle is here." Raven said, as the map zoomed in several times. "Amity Park, a town that's had more then a few weird things happen to it. If Sizzle has returned in a non-living capacity, I'll bet the door she found comes out in there."

"Well great…so what do we do?" Cyborg asked.

"Well…that's where I turn it over to you Tim." Raven said, turning to Robin. "I know where she is, and I know she has to be stopped…but I also know all the trouble Brother Blood's been causing. So it's up to you, but whatever happens, I have to get to Amity Park, preferably yesterday."

"Hmmmmmm…" Robin said, thinking. "Well, after last time I would suggest we all go…but UNLIKE last time, Jump City currently has another problem that might erupt at any moment, not mention Amity Park is considerably farther away then Light City…hmmmmmm…"

"Why not just do what we did last time?" Gauntlet joked. Savior glared at the irreverent team.

"He has a point Tim. Things worked out pretty good the last time we had to send off a splinter cell to deal with a problem." Cyborg said.

"Ugh. Victor, you weren't there, but I'd hardly call what happened in Light City working out "pretty well"." Savior grumped. "Quite frankly…"

"Well then Noel, maybe you should try again and make up for it?" Gauntlet suggested.

Savior didn't say anything. Instead he just looked around at his teammates, who were looking at him with amusement, in the way people do when they are seeing someone who just stuck their foot into their mouth.

"You want me to lead this again Tim?" Savior asked.

"Despite your opinion, the last time worked out ok Noel." Robin replied in a serious tone. Savior sighed.

"Ok fine, guess I'm the Official Away Team Leader. I clean up the messes you guys don't want to have to leave home to clean up."

"Sizzle's not a mess Noel. She's dangerous, and she could do some serious damage if we don't stop her." Raven said

"Point. Same as last time Robin?" Savior asked, enquiring if he could pick his other team members.

"Only fair."

"Ok, Raven's a gimme." Savior said. Terra poked Beast Boy with her elbow and snickered. "Stop that! She would be going even if I wasn't!"

"Surrrrrrrre." Beast Boy replied.

"You're damn lucky I think strategically GARFIELD, or I'd pick you again. But if this is Sizzle, we need people who can resist fire."

"Uh…" Scalpel said, looking worried.

"Don't worry Nigel, you went through enough LAST time. You can stay home." Savior said. Scalpel relaxed, tipping his hat to Savior. "But all joking aside, we can't go around picking who goes and who doesn't due to who likes who and other stupid innuendo."

"Well…I am pretty resistant to heat Noel." Starfire said, raising her hand. Robin arched an eyebrow.

"Just what I was thinking. You should come Kory. As for the rest of you…Victor, you can probably resist the heat the most."

"Me? Gauntlet's got the energy shield! Metal melts you know!" Cyborg protested.

"Victor…this could be very serious. Do you want Rob and I on the same team?"

"Hey!" Gauntlet said.

"………..All right, I'll help. But if Brother Blood shows up, I'm running right back here." Cyborg said.

"Fair enough. That should be good Robin. You have any issues?"

"None serious." Robin said, glancing at Starfire, who didn't seem to notice: she was enjoying the fact that she got to go on a trip, conveniently forgetting said trip was to deal with a returned enemy who would have tortured her boyfriend to death if she'd gotten the chance.

"Ok. Raven, any problems?"

"No. Sounds good to me."

"Ok, Cyborg, go fire up the T-Car…"

"No, no, NO." Cyborg cut Savior off. "I'll come with you Noel, but we are NOT taking my baby. I KNOW what happens to you and cars."

Savior rolled his eyes.

"Cyborg, I have told you, it was NOT my fault Power Girl decided to throw that car at Doomsday, or that Cauterize wound up…"

"Amity Park's too far away anyway. You guys should take the T-Ship." Robin said.

"Point. Ok, transportation's settled, you two should go grab some stuff. Kory, don't overpack! This is a mission, not a vacation!" Noel called after the alien, who had gleefully got up and was heading for the opening doors.

"I will not Noel!" She called back, in the delighted tone that told Savior she would do just that because that was the way she was. Cyborg smirked at the white haired superhero and followed on her heels, the rest of the Titans following, leaving just Raven and Savior in the room.

"Ok…Raven, what does the computer have to say about Amity Park? Specifically, does it have any local talent?" Savior asked, meaning, do any superheroes or similar types live there?

"Just one, though there's not much on him." Raven said, as several keystrokes brought up a blurred newspaper photo. To an outside viewer, the mix of black and white would have been almost indecipherable…but the T-Tower had one of the most advanced computers on the planet, and within thirty seconds Raven had cleaned up the computer enough to get a relatively clear look at Danny Phantom.

"Got a name?"

"None on record…" Raven said. "Witness reports have had him fighting several of the strange apparitions that have manifested in and around Amity Park. If anything, he'll know the territory."

"How long has he been doing this?"

"Not sure. Earliest reports are about three, four months back."

"Ugh. Fresh meat. Rookies are never good." Savior said. Raven gave her boyfriend a wry look.

"As I recall, you were a rookie yourself at one time, Noel."

"Yeah, about a million years ago." Savior replied, a hint of bitterness in his voice. "Ok. Figure out who is, where he lives, where he works out of, his age, his favorite food, anything you can that will help us track him down. Once we do so, we recruit him if we can, or at least get him sympathetic to our cause. I'm going to the armory to grab anything we might need to help us with a spirit enemy. I doubt you can talk her out of it like Murdercrow."

"Most likely not. Murdercrow was just a victim, mostly. Sizzle…she was nuts."

"Oh yeah. I knew that. You think she'll be mad at you for killing her?"

"No more angrier then she will be at you for tricking her into coming close enough to headbutt her in the nose." Raven replied. Savior sighed, and looked again at the picture of Danny Phantom.

"Poor kid. Wonder if he has any idea what he's gotten himself into." Savior said, and started to leave. "Still, I hope the damn rookie doesn't get in our way."


	3. Ignition: When She Was Bad

Writer's Note: As Danny Phantom episodes open with a short clip, then the opening theme, and then a picture about the episode, hence shall Danny's Inferno also have a picture. However, links do not work on this site, so all the actual html has had to be removed in order for it to work. For the picture to appear, replace the bracketed words with the appropriate symbol.

Semicolon means :

Slash means /

Period means .

The link should then appear.

* * *

(Hum the theme that appears for the Danny title pictures. "He's a phantom, a phantom, a phantom...")

http(semicolon slash slash)www(period)deviantart(period)com(slash)deviation(slash)15488396

Chapter 3: When She Was Bad

"These are the times that try men's souls."

Thomas Payne, _The American Crisis_

"She BROKE the Thermos?" Tucker said incredulously.

"She didn't just break it, she SHATTERED it. From within. If I'd picked up the Thermos a second later it probably would have exploded in my hand. Thank heavens for SOME things." Danny said, his voice ringing with just a slight hint of desperate fear. Sam knew the tone: one of her uncles had been late for a flight once…the flight that a group of terrorists had flown into the Pentagon. The next time she had seen him, he had spoken of the event and how he had sworn he would change his life because of it, and his voice had the same tone: the tone of a person who has become suddenly and violently aware of their own mortality and found it doesn't sit too well with them. Last time she checked though, her uncle was living up to his vow as he had quit smoking and was doing a lot of charity work, so some good came of the experience, she supposed.

Now she was hearing the same tone in Danny's voice, as they sat in the school cafeteria. The three had met earlier in the morning, but Danny was still too shellshocked to talk about what had happened to him last night. Apparently though, while sitting in class, he had decided that talking about it was better then holding it in, and when they had met for lunch he had poured out the whole story of his fight with Sizzle, in a surprisingly clipped tone…at least until now. And unlike her uncle, Sam didn't really have any comfort she could offer Danny: her uncle had been given a stroke of luck he could build on, while Danny had just escaped injury or death to possibly meet it again soon at the hands of this Sizzle.

"How's your sister?" She found herself asking, wanting to try and keep Danny from working himself into a nervous wreck.

"Jazz…it looks like she'll be ok. We took her to a hospital…apart from a few bruises; she seems to be all right. She also doesn't remember anything that happened: the last thing she recalls was looking for the smelling salts. The doctors kept her overnight for observation, she'll probably be back home when I get there." Danny said.

Silence.

"What am I going to do?" Danny blurted.

"Well, the first thing you have to do is get your dad to build you a new Thermos." Tucker said, in the practical tone of someone asked to help with a terrible situation who has not been actually touched by said situation. Such advice can be quite useful, as thinking in such a high strung emotional state isn't very conductive and can lead to mistakes, potentially serious ones…but they can also sound quite callous to the advisee, who believes that the advisor is condescending to their previously mentioned and highly important to them emotional state…fortunately, Danny didn't think that way.

"He already is. He's pretty mad himself that a ghost came out of the portal, possessed his daughter, ruined his lab, and burned down a chunk of his town. He told me that the next one would hold TEN Sizzles if it has to."

"And you found this out without revealing your secret identity how…wait, stupid question." Sam said, recalling Jack Fenton's normal mindset.

"I just told him I saw the fight and loaned "the white haired good guy" the Thermos because he was trying to help Jazz. Good thing my Halfa injuries didn't seem to carry over to my human form." Danny said, looking at the smooth pink flesh of the hand that had picked up the red hot Fenton Thermos. Whether the wound would be there again when he had to turn back…

"So, like I said, my Dad's gearing up for war…but even with that…what am I going to do?"

"You fight her if she shows up again. You brought the Incapacitator right?" Tucker asked.

"Yeah, it's in my locker, and the only reason it's there and not on my person is because Dash recently caught a specialized form of kleptomania lately, one that only manifests when he wants to steal something from a "nerd". Jerk. As if my life isn't hard enough…" Danny muttered. "But guys, you weren't there. You didn't see the LOOK in her eyes. She wanted to DESTROY me, for no reason because I was there when she came out. Jazz said she hated me…I've never been hated before…not seriously…it's not fun…" Danny said.

"Why does she hate you?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know…and the fact that she does…with such intensity…that's what scares me guys…I don't know if I can handle it…" Danny said, his look haunted. His two friends stared, not knowing what to say, and the silence was somehow worse, so Danny spoke again.

"Guys…I'm scared…" He said, his voice almost a whine.

"Scared like you won't go into the karaoke club, or real scared?" Tucker joked, going with what he knew to try and lessen Danny's fear, but it didn't work, if anything it made it worse, as Danny's pallor was now going gray and he looked ready to either vomit or curl up in a fetal ball…

"Danny, DANNY! SNAP OUT OF IT!" Sam snapped at Danny. He looked at her, as Sam suddenly took his hand.

"I KNOW this is scary. I know that you're afraid. But you can't let your fear control you. It won't change anything. If something has come out of the Ghost Portal and it wants to kill you…then you treat it just like you treated Skulker and Plasmius and everything else that wanted you for some reason. You FIGHT. And you WIN. And I know you can do it Danny. I believe in you."

Silence.

And then a half empty juice box slammed into the back of Danny's head, ruining the moment and nearly giving him yet another heart attack. Cackling laughter sounded from several tables over, as Danny, feeling the fruit liquid seep into his hair, turned and looked at the usual suspects who had bonked him, lead by Dash, who was acting like his little lob had redefined humor as human kind knew it. Sam, for her part, felt intense irritation…then puzzlement at why she was so irritated…and then felt a slight blush creep onto her features as she got an inkling why she was so irritated that the "moment" had been interrupted.

"Man, he's worse then usual these days." Tucker commented.

"Yeah, probably the curse of being the king jock in a school where all the sports team suck." Danny said, turning around and trying to ignore the laughter. "He's probably secretly terrified that people will grow a brain and ask why they should worship him if he doesn't bring home any trophies."

"These are teenagers. The odds of half of them wising up to the realities of life is probably in the same odds of winning the lottery." Sam replied.

"Actually…" Tucker said, fiddling on his PDA. "I did the math once, and I figured out that the odds of the school system ever realizing the foolishness of their hierarchies is about the same odds of air spontaneously transforming into gold."

"Good to know SOME things never change." Danny commented, returning to his lunch. We can't blame him for missing the look in Sam's eyes: she was barely aware of it herself. But the look would be very clear to the observation: she wished some things WOULD change.

* * *

It is testimony of the general self-absorption of the average teenager that none of them really cared at the fact that some of their town had been reduced to blackened ruins last night. Well, except the few that had been affected…but none of them were in school anyway. And in a way, you probably can't blame the school kids for not paying attention: the people studying the wreckage had no idea HOW the fire had started. It was clearly arson, but they couldn't find a source (and you know how adults are good at rationalizing things away, so the concept of the fire being willed out of thin air at such a tremendous level of power never even occurred to them) or a motive. There were whispers among a few of the kids that it was some kind of terrorist attack, or the opposite end of the spectrum that the government had been testing a weapon on home soil. 

"I can't believe my makeup was late today! I have to look my best, and my makeup has to be delivered at 6:00 AM Tuesday morning, SHARP! I should have my parents fire the deliveryman!"

But…for the most part the feelings were like that. Well, maybe not quite as self-absorbed as the complaints of the so-called Queen of Casper High, Paulina…but most were in that vein. Hell, they're teenagers, what can you do?

Paulina's sycophants slash toadies slash suckups slash 'friends' agreed with her, a gabbering little cluster that moved down the school halls as they headed for the lunch room. They tended to do that a lot. If Paulina was a master performance artist rather then the monstrously narcissistic teenage girl she was, she might have seen what she could get her little cadre to yes-man to…but since she was not a performance artist, she simply soaked in their obsequious chatter, secure in her belief that she deserved such treatment and it would always be afforded to her because after all, she was PAULINA.

Valerie Grey couldn't believe she had once been part of that group, as Paulina and Co walked past her, not even giving their once "bestest best friend for life" a second glance. After all, she was poor now, and in the mindset of them, poor equaled unhuman, and hence fair targeting for whatever nasty satisfaction they wanted to taste that day. It was the same fuel Dash Baxter craved when he pushed Danny and other people around, an intoxicating elixir of power, egotism, and naïveté in the way the world worked, as well as a streak of meanness running through it.

It's too bad Savior is currently puzzling where to put all of Starfire's luggage at the moment, he could have given a few of these people what for. Maybe later…

Back to Valerie Grey, who, as mentioned, couldn't believe she had once acted that way, before those damn ghosts had ruined her life. But she could live with that. She had grown up some, and recognized those so called friends of hers for what they were…somewhat. If she'd really been smart, she would have looked upon Tucker's constant pleas for her attention as more then an annoyance. But she still had enough insensitivity to regard Tucker and that loser couple Danny and Sam as just that, losers… who would probably be friends for years, maybe even for life, while Valerie's relationships may yet prove to be far more fleeting…

But at the moment, she was focused on the new center of her life: ghost hunting. And while she still felt a tad bit ambiguous about the black suited ghost boy, she didn't have any such feelings for the ghost that had burned down that city block. It was clearly hostile, and she would bring it down. If anything, it would give her practice for when she made up her mind about Black Suit and decided to hunt HIM for what he and his dog had done to her life.

And as for the fact that Valerie KNEW what Sizzle had done…well, she didn't have any details. But she knew that such puzzling destruction HAD to be the work of a ghost.

A ghost she would hunt down, she thought viciously and in a self-motivational way, as she moved stuff around inside her locker. A ghost she would run to ground and then grind into the dust, because while she may no longer be Valerie Grey, Popular Kid, she was still Valerie Grey, Ghost Hunter, and she was…

Suddenly aware of a great deal of heat behind her. Her eyes widened, and she turned around.

Sizzle smiled. Valerie gasped…and then her still forming instincts kicked in, as she tried to get at her gear behind her.

"GHOST!" she yelled.

"Host." Sizzle replied.

Valerie never made it.

* * *

Danny was right in the middle of a conversation with his last word being sprinkler when he gasped, and Tucker and Sam's eyes were abruptly drawn to the wisp of fiery red smoke that emerged from Danny's mouth, even as Danny grabbed at his mouth as the smoke burned him. 

The burning quickly faded, as Danny's fear rose up again.

"It's HER." He said.

* * *

Maybe if Kwan hadn't seen Valerie getting up, he wouldn't have stopped to do what he did. The poor fool. 

"Hey Valerie! Taken another tumble off the ladder of life have we?" Kwan said as he sidled up, in a perfect faux friendly banter that hid the razor sharp edge his kind had learned so well to conceal, as he looked at Valerie, who had appeared to have fallen down and had been using her locker to push herself up. "Well, you have to hit bottom eventually, but before I do, I have an offer for you! Now I know that since the uh, unfortunate problems with your dad your life hasn't been the greatest, god knows it may never be again, but I know that before you were pulled out of our Garden of Eden you liked to go to the dances, and as you know my girlfriend felt she was getting fat again so her dad bought her another few months at that health club she uses so much, so I figure, hey, why not thrown a bone to those less unfortunate then myself! It'll be just like old times! Might be the last time you live life so good, you know? So what do you say?"

The sad thing is, Kwan's mind did not conceal what could be defined as a DELIBERATELY cruel bent…rather just that of a person who had always gotten what he wanted, and always thought it would be that way. The American Dream, and considering he was Oriental, maybe that made it even more precious then him. So, with the calm stupidity of the people who think their thoughts define reality and that the world all aspires to be them and bless 'em for trying but it ain't happenin', he spoke out his thoughts, not really caring if he was wrong and he had to dump Valerie and take his actual girlfriend to the next dance because hey, he was one of the good ones, right? The world was best when things happened his way.

"Val?" Kwan asked. "What do you say?"

Sizzle turned blazing eyes onto Kwan.

**"BURN."**

Kwan went up like a torch, the sudden experience of erupting into flame so sudden and shocking he stood there for two seconds before he began to scream and thrash, but the fire was all over him and this was one serious burn, no stop drop and roll was going to save Kwan, as his normal thought process dissolved into a chaotic stew of pain and fear and animal instincts screaming and he ran, all aflame, as "Valerie" grinned the contented grin of a psychopath who had dealt with a problem in a highly satisfying way.

What saved Kwan's life was the sprinkler system, as they finally activated after several seconds and poured water down, drenching the whole hallway, even as Kwan both staggered due to the going out but still eating at him flames and a sudden new pool of water that was under his foot, and then he slammed face first into a locker, knocking himself right out as he flew back from the impact and fell on the floor, water running down his ragged clothing and seared body as the fire went out completely.

Soaked instantly, Sizzle looked up at the pouring mechanical constructs, the ones that had put out her precious flames.

"Can't have THAT." Sizzle said, and her eyes flashed.

The water cut off, instantly, as Sizzle generated a myriad of flashpoints that immediately fused the metal in the sprinklers together, cutting off their flow instantly and causing a backrush of water that made several pipes and the school water heater rupture and pour water out onto the ground, but it stopped the water from pouring down on her, as Sizzle turned, taking steps in Valerie's body, already forgetting Kwan. He was second to her concern: she could finish cooking him later. For now, she had one goal: find that so called Danny Phantom, and sear the flesh right off his skeleton.

"Phantommmmmmm…" she said, as she turned and started walking down the hall, the water fading away from her form as her clothing and hair dried instantly. Within three seconds she was turning a corner in which several drenched students were standing. Most of the students, once the sprinklers had gone on, had run for the exits, but the sudden abrupt stoppage of said sprinklers had caused some of them to stop and look up in confusion.

"Danny Phantommmmmmmm…I know you're here." Sizzle said to herself. "Come on out, or I'll SMOKE YOU OUT!"

The lockers on either side of Sizzle exploded into flames, burning textbooks, papers, clothes, magazines, and other trinkets flying out, immediately followed by the next pair, and the next, as the entire school hallway went up like a row of dominoes from hell, and the students suddenly found themselves surrounded by flying flaming scraps of paper and cloth. They screamed and ran for it, trying to swat the burning material away, and some not succeeding as their clothes ignited. And the fire alarm continued to scream…

Then it exploded as Sizzle glanced at it.

The entire hallway filled with floating, soaring, and shifting flames that came from burning test papers, math books, celebrity profiles, and skin books, like feathers from a phoenix, Sizzle walked slowly through the hallway, taking a moment, as members of the male sex, their clothing, hair, or bodies alight ran and screamed around her, to enjoy her own personal slice of heaven.

* * *

Two seconds after Danny's ghost sense went off, so did the sprinklers. 

The cafeteria immediately exploded with noise as everyone yelled at the sudden soaking and ran for the emergency exits. It was a miracle no one slipped and got trampled, as Danny got up, wondering what to do…

And then the sprinklers cut off.

The students still in the cafeteria stopped much like their fellows in the hallway had.

"Argh! My makeup is ruined!" Paulina cursed, as she got up. "And my shirt! You're not supposed to get a Van Zant original wet! Someone is going to…!"

And then the doors slammed open as screaming students fled in, trying to get flaming pieces of paper and junk off them or trying to bat out the flame that ate at their clothes. For the females, this happened easily, but for the males, the burning bits stuck to them like napalm. The alarm quickly returned and escalated to full flown panic as the flaming students ran into their fellows, and the fire started to spread.

And Danny rolled behind Tucker and Sam, who had smartly gotten up on the table instead of joining the throngs. It wouldn't have mattered: the students were so caught up in their own troubles Danny could waved a huge sign that said "Look! I am a superhero!" and no one would have noticed. The light flashed behind them, and then Danny Phantom flew up, his eyes darting around the room.

"You know, I always found that Nelly song stupid, but this is too literal!" Danny said, as he located a fire extinguisher on the wall. His hand glowed green, and he fired a blast of ectoplasmic energy (from herefore called EE) at it, causing the device to explode, the white smoke spraying out and enveloping a group of students, putting out whoever happened to be flaming. He found another one and fired off another EE blast, saving another group, and then he located the panel in which was located a coiled fire hose. Rather then pulling out the hose and using it, Danny just blew the whole thing up with another EE blast, rupturing the pipe that fed the hose and causing a huge burst of water to spray from the hole and wet down pretty much the rest of the group (and thank god there was enough water pressure left to do that after Sizzle mangled the pipes).

"EVERYONE! GET OUT OF HERE! MOVE!" Danny bellowed as loud as he could, and much to his surprise, people listened.

"INVISO-BILL!" Paulina said, hearts in her eyes as she suddenly realized her own personal he-man had arrived to save the day again. "BILLY! I LOVE YOU BILLY!"

At the moment, Danny Phantom couldn't have cared if all of Hollywood's women had appeared professing their love and undying devotion to him (or at the fact that his Inviso-bill nickname still hadn't died off yet. Then again, he supposed he should be glad that it had even started dying off: after Walker's attack on the town, it seemed like he'd be hated for the rest of his life. But then some so called experts had shown up to investigate the happenings, and while they clearly had no idea that their so called expertise was wrong, they were utterly perfect at being snotty, condescending elitists who had shamed the entire town into thinking they'd been foolish for believing in ghosts. The town had swiftly begun forgetting and excusing away what they had seen ever since, no matter how strong the evidence was, with certain exceptions like his parents and Paulina, who'd had a crush on him since that Kitty thing. He supposed it worked for him, and if he ever met a girl called Buffy, they'd surely have something to talk about in regards to towns that learned to ignore evidence of things because they couldn't handle them. More would be said on this later, though Danny didn't know it yet...). He knew what he had to do…despite the fear rolling in his guts. He looked down at Sam and Tucker, who were escorting the last few students out. They looked back up at him, and their eyes said it all.

"Sizzle." He said, and then he flew towards the wall and vanished through it.

"He's so great, what a man…" Paulina cooed.

"Yeah yeah, less drooling more fleeing girlfriend!" Sam said, her voice so thick with sarcasm on the last word she could have caulked a shower with it, as she grabbed Paulina and began pulling her towards the exits, ignoring Paulina's protests and general stop-that-do-you-know-who-I-am's.

Danny didn't have to go far: the hallway filled with floating flames in which a figure walked was enough of a sign. Her back was to him, but Danny recognized who it was.

"Valerie?" He said quietly to himself. He quickly knew that it wasn't: there was so much fiery scrap in the hallway that Valerie Grey would have gone up like a torch, much like the burned and whimpering Kwan had as he was dragged to safety by two of his jock friends. It was Sizzle, in Valerie's body. She'd possessed her just like his sister. Danny took a moment to appreciate the irony of a ghost hunter possessed by a ghost so said ghost could kill the ghost the ghost hunter wanted to hunt…or kill…or something…and then he was all business.

"SIZZLE!"

Sizzle stopped, and turned on her heel, as she once again looked eyes with Danny Phantom.

The hate that Danny saw flash across there hadn't lessened. If anything, it had somehow magnified.

And so they two stood there, a boy floating slightly off the ground and a black teenager with something far worse inside her, as the flames erupted from burning lockers and the phoenix feathers drifted all around them.

You could almost hear a whistling tune from a famous movie play in the background.

One was good.

One was bad.

And this was going to be UGLY.


	4. Ignition: Deadlier Then The Male

Chapter 4: Deadlier Then The Male

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear."

-Ambrose Redmoon

"So you showed up…stupid fool." Sizzle said. "I was kind of hoping I'd have to hunt your bony little ass down."

"Well, you found me. Come on, let's settle this." Danny said, raising his fists.

"Hmmmm, you mean let's get away from here before I burn your school down…hmmmmm…" Sizzle said, her face (well Valerie's face) getting a pondering look. "I'd rather do both."

And Sizzle slammed out her hands and the whole hallway filled with fire as Sizzle ignited every bit of oxygen there was, a solid wall of flame that exploded towards Danny and enveloped his form before he could even emit a scream.

Sizzle smiled.

And then Danny's form reappeared, barely visible in the smoke, as his body was now nearly see-through. Danny went tangible again, with a small comfort: Sizzle's flames may have been horrifically powerful, but at least they abided by real world physics.

Sizzle's smile turned into a clenched tooth look of pure fury.

"I'll turn every drop of water you have in your body into HOT MIST!" She screamed, as she reared back her hand and slashed it out, lines of deadly fire lancing from the motion, the bigger, nastier brothers of the fire daggers she had used either, arcing waves of energy that ripped into the floor, ceiling, and slagged lockers.

Danny did two things.

First he checked to make sure no one was behind him.

Then he went through the nearest wall. Intangibly, of course.

He found himself in a classroom, looking a small group of students who were being helped out through an open window by their teacher. Danny recognized him: it was Mr. Petrie. Danny had him for History and an occasional Social Studies class: he was rather humourless with his thin mouth and drawn features, but he was a good teacher, and he was looking at Danny's floating form with a good deal of shock.

"Keep going! Get out of here! Quickly, before…!"

"KNOCK KNOCK!"

The door exploded off its hinges and Danny whirled away at the last second, as the wooden door embedded itself two feet into the wall near the windows Mr. Petrie was helping the last few students out of. This clearly freaked him out, but he showed his strength of character as he continued helping the students out and didn't just jump out the window himself.

Sizzle started heading into the room, and then hit a wall, or as much of a wall as Danny could erect in a second, as he flew into a corner of the room and let loose with several twin-handed EE blasts that slammed into the desks and sent them tumbling towards Sizzle in a storm of wood and metal. Danny wasn't worried about Valerie, at least not in a callous way. Sure, she and his sister were about ten light years away on the caring scale, not to mention the whole ghost hunter thing, but he wasn't going to hurt her if he could avoid it. No, he was sure Sizzle would protect her host and prevent any of those desks from causing contusions or concussions or cuts or any of the C Words that stood for injuries, and it would give Mr. Petrie the needed few seconds to get the last of the students out.

The piles of desks stood there for a moment before a red glow lit from within them and then, with a furious scream, Sizzle smashed them all away from her, as desks slammed into the walls, ceiling, blackboard (shattering it) desk (severely denting it), windows (breaking them and sending any students who were nearby running for their lives, which probably saved them from being cut to shreds by flying glass), and the ectoplasmic shield Danny had formed in front of Mr. Petrie and the last student, a female, who hadn't made it out yet. The strange angle of the impact and resulting feedback caused Danny to be tossed violently to the left, ending up near the spot where had fired the blasts that had thrown the desks originally.

Sizzle approached again, as Danny got up, ready…

And then he noticed that Sizzle wasn't even looking at him. She was looking at Mr. Petrie, who was now helping the last girl out…which involved, at the end, for him to touch her rear end. But it was just a shove to help her out the window. There was nothing sexual about it, just what he was doing to help…but Sizzle didn't see it that way.

"You have no right to touch her like that." She hissed, and raised her arm.

"NO!" Danny screamed.

Mr. Petrie was just about to leave through the window himself when his back erupted in flames, and much like Kwan, his thoughts of escape vanished in the pain as he staggered back and screamed, even as the fire began to spread to his front, even as Sizzle chuckled as the dancing marionette she had created…

And then Danny was there, arriving with a thick rug that was bundled up in a closet in the back of the room, a rug that was laid out in the winter for students to wipe their boots on, a rug Danny had grabbed and now threw over Mr. Petrie even as he bore down on him and shoved him to the ground, smothering the flames, even as he wrapped the rug around the teacher and stood up, yanking the rug over one shoulder as he fired an EE blast at Sizzle with his other hand, a blast that sent her stumbling back a few steps, even as Danny turned and sprinted for the window.

"Sorry about the exit!" He yelled as he slung the teacher bundle off his shoulders and into his arms and then tossed it right out the window and into the arms of a few students who had come back to help, nearly knocking them over.

"Should have worried about your ass boy."

Danny felt fear bloom in his guts, as he tried to turn…

The flame blast didn't just shatter the remaining windows, it shattered the entire WALL, the whole part of the building exploding out as the students fled the firestorm of debris, smoke billowing out after it as what was left collapsed, the wind carrying Sizzle's mad, triumphant laughter.

* * *

For the first time in his life, Tucker was glad he didn't have a car. 

Because if he had, he would have hopped in and fled the war zone his school was becoming, confident that Danny could take care of himself. Without one, he was forced to just sort of mill around…and it was then he remembered.

_…have the Incapacitator…?_

_…in my locker…_

"Oh no." Tucker said. He stopped, gave it some thought, and unable to decide if he should be brave and foolish or smart and cowardly not to mention a bad friend, he pulled out his PDA.

"Should I go back into the school to Danny's locker and get the Incapacitator for him?" He typed into the system's question answering computer.

SYSTEM ERROR.

"No, System Error would be 'Me Hit PDA In Screen With Big Rock'" Tucker replied.

YES YOU SHOULD.

"Ok now…wha? Tucker?" Sam said as she turned around and saw Tucker running back from to the school. "What are you doing?"

"What the computer told me!" Tucker tossed over his shoulder.

To Sam, it almost made sense.

* * *

The dust and smoke began to clear, as Sizzle finally stopped her laughing… 

And found she had nothing to laugh about, as Danny stood revealed, his arms crossed and the ectoplasmic shield he had formed finishing fading away. The impact of the blast had torn through his whole body, but he had managed to get a shield up and it had held.

"You…fucker." Sizzle hissed.

"The sentiment's returned." Danny said as he lowered his arms, trying to hide the fact he'd like to do nothing more then collapse. "Why did you do that? He was trying to HELP that woman, and you light him on fire? What kind of a nutcase are you?"

"That was no help." Sizzle, er, fired back. "That was just the latest example of all the violent, violating repression your breed have heaped on mine for eons. It doesn't matter if they THINK they have good intentions, their true desires are always the same! HUMILATE US! REPRESS US! RUIN US! AND YOU'LL ALL BURN FOR IT!"

"Lady, you got some issues." Danny said, as his strength finally kicked in again, and good thing, as Sizzle fired another lancing blast of flame at him as he flew up and over it.

"Let's see how great you are when you don't have a shield to hide behind!" Danny yelled, as he turned intangible and flew into Valerie's body. The struggle was brief and fierce, and then Danny and Sizzle's thrashing forms came ripping out of her, tumbling and smashing/melting right through the wall, as Danny pulled himself away from Sizzle.

"Ok, fight's on even ground now, so come on psycho! I'm ready for you!" Danny yelled.

Sizzle backhanded Danny across the entire hallway. He slammed into the lockers at the end so hard he left a dent, and slid down to the ground.

"Ok, I guess I wasn't so ready." Danny moaned.

"Uhhhh…what…." Valerie said, staggering around, and then she screamed as Sizzle flew back in and slammed into her back. She fell to the ground, spasmed once, and then Sizzle's visage lit up in her eyes again.

Danny was getting to his feet, abet tenderly, as Sizzle stepped through the hole Danny and she had made. Hate flashed across her countenance again, and she did a few quick hand motions. Danny's eyes widened.

"That can't be good."

"BURRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNN!" Sizzle screamed as she thrust out her hands and fired off dozens of quick, lightning fast fireballs.

"I hate it when I'm right!" Danny yelled as he dodged/rolled to the side, as the fireballs slammed into the lockers and the entire wall erupted with explosions as Sizzle vaporized everything where Danny had just been standing.

Fortunately, it wasn't where he was standing now, as he tried another roll and tripped over his feet and landed…at the feet of someone else.

Danny looked up.

"Fahrenheit 451! What in the name of Stephen King is going ON in here?" Mr. Lancer yelled.

"You might want to add a few zeroes to that first one for an answer, Mr. Lancer." Danny said as he got up. He wasn't that surprised to see Mr. Lancer still in the school: nuclear war could be happening and he'd still be hanging around Casper High. Danny theorized it was the only real thing in his life that gave it meaning, and their troubles aside, Danny let him have that…except it had kept him in the school, and since he was a man, that pretty much made him another slab of meat for Sizzle to try and cook extremely well done.

Mr. Lancer was looking at Danny with a quizzical look.

"You! The white haired entity that's ALWAYS around when trouble starts!…And how do you know my name?"

"Uh…Internet?" Danny ventured.

"Well I…" Mr. Lancer began, and then another scream of fury, this one very close, slammed into Danny's ears.

"SAVE IT BUDDY!" Danny yelled as he flew forward and grabbed Mr. Lancer, flying down the hallway as a huge fireball slammed into the spot where they had just been standing. Mr. Lancer screamed.

"It's ok sir! I will get you to safety!" Danny said.

"I'm not screaming at this! IT'S THAT!" Mr. Lancer said, pointing behind him. Danny didn't turn to look, it would slow him down. "1984! Is that Valerie Grey?"

"No! It's something inside her, controlling her! Valerie is blameless!" Danny yelled.

"Yes, I gathered that from the fact that she's MAKING A HUGE BALL OF FIRE IN MID-AIR!"

"BURNNNNNNNNN!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Mr. Lancer screamed. "GO LEFT!"

Danny did so.

"No, your OTHER LEFT!"

Danny jerked himself into a hard spinning right and half a second later a huge blast of flame flew past his side, searing him, and then he had to top that maneuver as the hallway had run out of room, as he did an insanely tight turn into the hallway that branched off from the just ended one, half a second before the fireball hit the wall at the end of the chase hallway. Danny flew on, the explosion licking at his heels, as he flew down the hallway.

And then he saw something, and stopped.

"Hey! Keep flying! You're not too old for me to take over my knee, young…thing!" Mr. Lancer said.

"Mr. Lancer…" Danny Phantom said, as he switched his posture from horizontal to vertical in front of the door he had noticed: the boy's locker room. He put the teacher down.

"Would you like to save the student who is being forced to do all this damage and also save what is left of your school?"

"Do I have to?" Mr. Lancer asked.

"Yes." Danny replied.

When Sizzle turned and started walking down the hallway the two had been in, she found they were gone. But that didn't matter: she knew where to look. She could smell the stench of the boy, who should have died for her, died screaming in agony, and instead he fought her, and so she would make his agony ten times greater…

She walked into the men's locker room, Valerie's shoes long gone and the moist tiles hissing beneath her bare feet, as she followed the stench (which may or may not have been an actual smell, but work with me here) into the next room: the school pool.

She did not find the boy.

Instead, she found a bald man with a beard and rolled up shirtsleeves standing on the other end of the pool.

"You! Hey you! You're in a lot of trouble young lady!" Mr. Lancer yelled. Much to most of our amazement, he did not manage to reveal the fact that he was pants-pissingly terrified. "You, uh, deserve a million demerits! You have no school spirit! Uh, your mother wears army boots!"

"He must be suicidal." Sizzle said, as she called upon her mastery of heat and lifted Valerie's body a few inches off the ground as she started floating over the water.

"Uh…your parents must be VERY disappointed in you!"

Sizzle's eyes blazed.

"A SUICIDAL MASOCHIST!" Sizzle yelled, and flew faster…

"HAAAAAAAAAA!" Danny yelled as he dove down from above, slamming into Sizzle's back and driving both of them into the pool with a loud splash.

"The Haunting of Hill House! It worked!" Mr. Lancer said. "Yes! I am so totally tubular!"

Then Mr. Lancer noticed the water was beginning to boil.

"Uh…." Mr. Lancer said, and then ran for it. He figured he's done enough heroics for the next…eon or so.

As the water went from slightly bubbling to full on steaming, and then violently raging like the lord and master of all Jacuzzi's.

Danny burst from the water, flying up to the ceiling, and then dashed to the side as a bolt of flame exploded from the water and flash-fried the section of ceiling where he had just been, as the water in the pool suddenly exploded outward like Moses parting the Red Sea, as Sizzle screamed and fired another line of fire at Danny, and having discovered dumping Sizzle in water wouldn't dampen her flame powers, Danny decided to utilize the Saotome Desperation move. For those who don't watch anime, that move is: run away until you can think of a better plan.

And Danny did, flying into the nearest doorway.

And stopping.

"Huh, girl's locker room." Danny said, as he looked around in what was in normal situations the most forbidden of areas. "Gee, they have a nicer paint job…."

"AAAAAIIIIIYEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

The lockers at the end of the room began to explode like they were loaded with dynamite.

"I hate you hormones!" Danny yelled as he flew away from the detonating lockers, dodging shards of red hot metal as he flew out the door, the explosion of fire barely missing him as he landed on the ground. He was starting to get tired, and decided to conserve energy by running for a bit.

* * *

"Ok, we've got two down. What's the third number for Danny's combination lock?" Tucker asked his PDA. 

WHAT?

"Perhaps this hot soldering iron will refresh your memory!" Tucker said. So how did Tucker get a hot soldering iron, and why didn't he just use it to cut Danny's lock off if he indeed had it? Beats me. I just work here.

IT SHOULD BE 12.

"The age when he first experienced the dreaded Rear Admiral. Danny always was a masochist." Tucker said, as he spun the lock towards 12. It clicked open. "Ah, my momma didn't raise no fool!"

I DID ALL THE WORK.

"Oh look, a PDA on the floor to be conveniently stepped on, now what was that?"

NOTHING. NOTHING AT ALL.

It didn't take long for Tucker to find the Fenton Ghost Incapacitator, and he gave a happy laugh as he did so.

"Now to find Danny!" He said as he stood up, and closed the locker door.

And found Danny standing right behind it.

"GUAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Dude, what are you doing there?" Tucker panted.

"Funny, I was going to ask who was stupid enough to be committing locker robberies when there's a nutso fire spirit running around the school! Then AGAIN…"

"Ah quiet man! I…"

"CHHHHHHHAAYYYYYYYYHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The wall at the end of the hallway, which Tucker and Danny were about a third of the way down, exploded outward as a massive fireball flew through it.

Tucker froze stock still at his impending death.

Then Danny reminded him he could move by grabbing him and pulling him to the ground, the fireball wooshing a foot above their heads and giving poor Danny a nasty first degree burn on his cheek as it flew down the hallway and exploded against the far wall, blowing another hole to the outside.

"Danny, why didn't we just go intal?" Tucker complained as Danny frantically got up, dragging Tucker with him.

"I'm worn out! Need some time to rest! Can't do it!"

"Then fly us out of here!"

"Can't do that either!"

"Oh really…" Said a voice at the end of the hallway.

The two boy's faces turned towards Sizzle's form, standing in the hole she had just made. Then they looked at each other in horror.

Sizzle raised her hand…

"RUN." Danny said.

And snapped her fingers.

The lockers right next to her exploded as Danny and Tucker took off at a sprint, each set of lockers promptly following in suit, explosions filling the hallway behind them as Danny and Tucker ran for their lives. In the process, Tucker dropped his PDA.

MOMMY, I'VE FALLEN AND I CAN'T GET UP. The Screen said, and then the poor thing was blown to bits.

The two boys ran, really understanding the concept of tunnel vision, as everything fell away from their sight except the hole that would save them, even as the lockers continued to detonate behind them, catching up to their forms, the flames hungrily reaching for an appetizer of white and dark meat (sorry if that sounds racist…)…

"AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The two boys yelled as they dove forward and out the hole, the fire flash consuming the air above them half a second later, even as a second explosion knocked them forward and sent them tumbling forward a dozen more feet, as smoking bits of bricks and mortar rained down around them.

For a moment the two boys lay there, gasping.

"That's it. I am off action movies, FOREVER." Tucker vowed.

"Me too. I'll stick with Cannes." Danny replied, as the two got up. Tucker was about to stagger away when he recalled the whole reason he was in the school. "Danny! I…"

A line of flame thirty feet long and a foot wide slashed down on the ground between the two, throwing Tucker backwards with a cry. Danny would have made his own noise, except the line didn't just stop at striking the ground: it curled around and suddenly was circling around Danny, and before he knew it he was trapped as the fiery rope drew tight, pinning his arms to his side. He screamed as it burned him.

"Damn you BOY…" Sizzle growled as she stepped out, the other end of the line extending from the top of her right hand. "DAMN YOU!"

And the line coiled up and then lashed down, slamming Danny into the ground and adding to his pain.

"WHY! CAN'T! YOU! JUST! DIE!" Sizzle snarled, punctuating each word with a ground slam, and then she reeled the battered and burned Danny in so she was face to face with him, even as she lifted her left hand as flames enveloped it.

"I'm going to boil out your eyes." She said.

Danny's eyes fired blasts of ectoplasmic power, slamming into Sizzle's face and knocking her backwards, her flame rope dissipating. Danny whirled back into the air, his flight powers back "on line", and swooped down.

"SORRY VALERIE!"

Danny's foot slammed into Valerie's stomach, knocking the wind out of Sizzle as Danny spun over her form. Sizzle turned, her hand awash in flame, but it was Danny's hands that made the first move, as he slammed a left hook, then a right hook across Valerie's face, and then laced his fists together and did a double-fist uppercut that smashed across Valerie's face and sent her flying through the air, crashing down a few dozen feet away.

"I'll make it all up to you somehow. I swear." Danny said, as he flew after her.

Sizzle's hand, from where she was laying, clamped down onto the grass underneath her palm, and the thin plant follicles instantly vanished, as well as the topsoil beneath it, as Sizzle looked up at the approaching Danny Phantom who would not die and kept protecting his fellows and who had touched her AGAIN…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The fire exploded from all around Sizzle, as if Vesuvius had been reborn on top of her and decided that it wanted to out-do Pompeii, an unholy eruption of flaming wrath that vaporized the ground for fifteen feet surrounding her and vomited out a massive storm of arcing fireballs. Danny Phantom barely escaped being reduced to nothing by the original upward eruption, only to have one of those fireballs slam into him and blow him out of the sky.

"RUN!" Sam screamed, as the students scattered under the onslaught of flame, the spheres arcing down and detonating wherever they landed, blowing holes in Casper High and the field and road around it. Fireballs landed in the nearby parking lot and sent off a chain reaction of explosions as the vehicles blasted and burned, even as students ran for their lives, the fact that they were moving targets seeming to be enough…

It's siren screaming, a fire engine was finally pulling up, until one of Sizzle's flame bombs came down on top of it, exploding the rows of hose and causing the truck to lurch crazily to the side and then overturn, falling down on its flank as fireman spilled out like ten pins. Two police cars that were right behind it crashed into the underside, and a few seconds later the whole pile exploded, throwing the firemen and police officers through the air and slicing them up with shrapnel.

Squealing, a second fire engine fought to avoid crashing into the pileup, as the driver yanked the wheel hard to the side and plowed onto the school grounds, it's huge wheels throwing up clumps of dirt and grass, as the driver slammed on the brake before he could accidentally run over any of the remaining students, and he set the stick, opened the door and started climbing out.

And found himself staring at a young black girl…whose eyes happened to be on fire.

And then his truck exploded out from under himself, Sizzle blowing the gas tank and lifting the truck straight up, even as the whiplash movement threw the driver away, as the truck tipped up and then fell over onto its back like a fallen beast from biblical times.

It also happened to fall right in front of Danny, who was trying to get up, holding his burned chest, as he stared at the huge truck, and then his eyes were fixed to one spot as the red paint of the truck suddenly became the glowing red of molten metal, and then a hole appeared and Sizzle walked out, having literally walked right through the vehicle, melting her way through the steel structure like it was made of jello.

"Enough fucking around." Sizzle said, as she raised her hand. "Start screaming."

Danny screamed all right: screamed a battle cry as he flew forward before Sizzle could attack, grabbing her by her front and jamming his foot into her chest as he rolled/pulled backwards, throwing Sizzle over his head and into the air. He was sure she (or rather, her host) would either stop the fall or survive the landing though, and Danny's mind raced furiously as he tried to think of something, ANYTHING, even as Sizzle's host body put on the brakes a few seconds before it landed and flipped over so its feet were on the ground.

"DANNY!"

Danny's head jerked at the sound of Tucker's voice, as his friend, his clothes covered in soot, ran up to him.

"Tucker get out…!"

"Danny, I brought the Incapacitator! Use it!" Tucker said, as he finally got back to Danny after all the chaos that had just happened, as he tossed the hand-held neutralizer at Danny.

A loud growl got Danny's attention even as he grabbed the device, and he turned his head back to Sizzle, whose eyes were fixed on Tucker, as Tucker quickly became aware he had awakened Sizzle's ire towards his person.

"You help him?" Sizzle growled. "Then I'll show you black jungleberry!"

And Sizzle snapped out her arm and fired a huge fireball at Tucker.

For the second time in ten minutes, Tucker saw his impending death, and this time, Danny was too far away to shove him away…

"NOOOOOOO!" Danny screamed.

And then Sam was there, violently shoving Tucker to the side as the fireball encroached on her being, and if Danny hadn't just screamed, he would have screamed even LOUDER as the fireball struck Sam and she vanished in the explosion.

"Oh no…Sam…why did…" Danny stammered, as Tucker looked at the spot where Sam had stood, the spot where he would have been standing if not for her…

The smoke cleared.

Sam was revealed, her arms crossed before her and her body coiled up in the posture of the defensive, but she was unharmed, as she uncrossed her arms and looked at herself for a second, and then she looked at Sizzle, who looked utterly furious at this.

"Your fire can't hurt females. That's the observation I got from talking with Danny. So I figured I'd use that." Sam said, even though there was an undertone to her voice that indicated she couldn't believe it had worked.

"TRAITOR!" Sizzle screamed.

"Lunatic." Sam replied. "DANNY!"

"WAY AHEAD OF YOU!" Danny yelled as he stood up and aimed the Incapacitator. Sizzle's eyes snapped to him.

"NO! NOT AGAIN!"

Danny fired the Incapacitator.

And Sizzle shot from the hip, a needle of flame that lanced out from her hand and struck the weapon, blowing it up in Danny's hand as he reared back and yelled at the sudden pain…

Even as the blue bolt struck Valerie in the forehead.

She went down like a ton of bricks.

For a moment, there was silence, as scattered students, firemen, and policemen, who a moment ago had been trying to make some distance between them and the site, suddenly stopped at the silence and turned to look.

Screaming, Sizzle pulled herself from Valerie's body, and the witnesses resumed their running, deciding that hanging around had been a bad idea, because now they were seeing things, they HAD to be seeing things…even as Sizzle floated up, her now flaming visage alight with rage.

"GOD DAMN YOU!" she screamed, as she slammed her hands together, and fire gushed forth from them, aiming right at the three and showing she didn't need a host to generate flame, but Danny was there, as he flew between Sizzle and his friends and countered with a two handed EE blast. The twin blasts slammed into each other and a war of dominance raged for a few seconds before the blasts finally just detonated in the middle, throwing Danny backwards and sending him down in a heap with his friends while Sizzle was pushed back herself. Danny scrambled back up, at the ready, even as Sizzle looked at the still living boy, and her rage grew ever deeper, even as the fire on and around her torso and head leapt higher and fiercer to reflect her anger.

"I will burn your life, and everything in it." Sizzle said, and then she coiled in on herself and vanished in a wisp of smoke.

Silence.

The fires went out.

And Danny collapsed, utterly exhausted, as the circles re-appeared and returned him to normal. He coughed violently and for a moment was worried he was going to vomit, but he didn't. A small comfort.

"Danny!"

And then Sam and Tucker were there, trying to help, even as Tucker offered him a bottle of water he had kept somewhere, and even as Danny gazed bleary eyed at the spot where Sizzle had been, and at the ruins around him, and he wondered if he had accomplished anything at all today.

Except the fact that when Sizzle showed up again, she'd be madder then ever.

* * *

"Danny! You're ok!" Maddie Fenton said as the door opened and Danny Fenton walked in, trying extremely hard to hide the fact he was on the verge of total collapse, as his mother got up from where she was sitting at the table, during which she had been making frantic phone calls for the past two hours trying to locate her son in the chaos that was Casper High, ran over to him, and grabbed him in the way only relieved mothers can. 

"Hey mom…" Danny said lamely as she hugged him: normally he would have protested but after today it felt good. "I still need air."

"Danny? What in the name of the spirit of St. Louis happened?" Came a familiar voice, as his father came in from another room. "I turn on the TV and there's all this pandemonium at your school and I drive there and you're nowhere to be found and there's fire trucks and police cars everywhere…it was a ghost, wasn't it? That same ghost that was here yesterday!" Jack said, his eyes alight with the fervor that he entered whenever the supernatural seemed to be close.

This time though, he wasn't going to get anywhere.

"JACK FENTON." Maddie snapped, cutting her husband off before he could get started. "Danny looks like he's been through hell, so please honey, GIVE IT A REST FOR NOW!"

Jack looked stunned.

"Right. Sorry son, Maddie." He said, as Maddie led Danny over to a couch, which he sat down gratefully on.

"Danny, what happened? Where were you? I was calling everywhere, I even called the MORGUE, and a mother…"

"Sorry Mom…I don't know. That ghost…she showed up again, attacked the school, I don't know why, and then that white haired ghost showed up and fought with her, and I had brought the Incapacitator prototype for protection and I decided to help him because he saved Jazz but there was fire everywhere and running and screaming and…but I'm ok." Danny said. "That white haired ghost saved all our butts."

"Yes, he's a strange one. Almost makes me want to stop hunting him. Almost." Jack said.

(In case you were wondering, Danny didn't call himself Inviso-bill because he wanted the nickname to die, and after a comment by Jazz to her parents back when they more believed that Danny was a bad guy that their so called white haired enemy didn't look like a Bill, Jack and Maddie had strangely agreed and tried to decide on a new name for Danny's ghost self. They had yet to think of one though, so mostly they just called him "the white-haired ghost". Indeed, several subtle comments by Jazz had caused Danny's parents' attitude toward his ghost self to change: even his mother now regarded him with more wary suspicion then outright aggresiveness. If Danny wasn't a straight C student, he might have picked up on the fact that this pretty much proved Jazz knew who he was and was doing her best to help him from the sidelines. It wasn't a fully won battle yet, but it was better then the days after Walker's attack. It made him think briefly of Wulf: he hadn't seen the lupine spirit since the incident, and he'd looked. He hoped he was all right, but for now, he had to focus on his latest, and much bigger problem...after he got some sleep...)

"Danny…are you sure you're all right?" Maddie asked.

_No, actually, if you saw me in my Halfa form and how it really is a Halfa now because the half of my body that isn't burned is bruised, you'd know I'm not all right, but my Halfa injuries don't carry over to my normal form and they seem to heal faster when my Halfa form is in "storage" but still I'd rather not go ghost for a bit…say a month, because while my wounds don't carry over my exhaustion sure does…_

"I'm ok Mom. I just want some sleep. Dad, please…could I give you a report later?" Danny said, his eyes pleading, and even that look was enough to get around Jack Fenton's fanaticism.

"Sure Danny. You rest. If you need anything, just call." Jack said, as Danny gratefully got up and headed for the stairs.

Jack watched him go, his concerned look gradually hardening into determination.

"Jack…" Maddie said, as she looked at her husband, her eyes mirroring his.

"The new Thermos is finished. I think I'll give it to Danny to take with him tomorrow, he seems to run into the white haired ghost a lot. He can hand it over. As for this whole situation…I salvaged all the gear from my lab that I could. And then there's our…new project…Maddie, remember how our original plan was to finish polishing it up over the course of this week?"

"Yes."

"You think we can finish it tonight?"

"If I have to turn back all the clocks in town." Maddie said, as she pulled her hood up.

"You know Maddie, I know at times I act positively child-like when it comes to ghosts, but I always figured that we'd eventually run into a hostile one. I thought the white haired one was hostile, you did too...butthose conflicting reports and those so called experts...well, now I'm not so sure.But I have no doubts on this ghost: it's hostile. It's beyond hostile. It's mad. And it clearly just wants to make war. Well Maddie, if some spirit wants to come through my gateway, threaten my family, raze my town, and wanting to play war, then it will find that Jack Fenton is ready to shoot off more then his big fat mouth!" Jack said, as he stomped out of the room, Maddie following as they prepared for a long night.

So was Danny, as he made his way up the stairs and managed a few more steps before his vision blurred and he started to stumble. He was vaguely aware of a door opening.

"Danny!" Came Jazz's voice, and then his sister was there. "Are you ok?"

"Just…need rest…" He whispered.

"Oh Danny…" Jazz said, looking at her exhausted brother, her heart going out for what he had sacrificed. "It's ok. You can rest now. You've done enough for today." She said as she went around him, slipped her head under his shoulder, and began helping him to his room.

"Darn straight." Danny said, his mind fading already.

"Just relax…relax…" Jazz said, as she opened the door to Danny's room, which was dark and had its shades drawn, but enough light spilled in from the hallway so she could see the bed, as she somewhat helped/mostly carried Danny to his bed and laid him down.

"You need anything?" She asked. Danny just muttered: he was already dozing off. "Ok."

And Jazz quietly left the room, shutting the door behind her.

Danny muttered happily as his brain recognized it was going to finally get to sleep…

And then his bedside light turned on.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Danny screamed, going from dead in the water to full fledged rapids, to coin a metaphor, as he jerked up at the suddenness, his body tangling in his bedsheets, as he tried to turn and defend and attack and…

Stop, confused, looking at what was at the desk next to his bed.

A white line. A floating white line of energy.

A white line he followed back to a hand, which was attached to a white haired and garbed teenager who was sitting in the corner on a chair, where he had been sitting in the dark for who knew how long, and even as Danny goggled at this strange sight he realized the stranger wasn't alone: next to him was a female in a long purple robe, the top pulled up to shadow her face in a beak-headed cowl.

"Daniel Fenton?" Savior asked.

"Huh?" Danny said, looking at the two, as Savior got up and walked over to the bed.

"I'm Savior. That's Raven. We're the Teen Titans." Savior said seriously. "And as Arnold once said, come with us if you want to live."


	5. Ignition: Group Dynamic

Chapter 5: Group Dynamic

"To see a world in a grain of sand,  
And heaven in a wild flower,  
To hold infinity in your hand,  
And eternity in an hour."

-Blake, _Auguries of Innocence_

Savior admittingly wasn't expecting much when he arrived at the gigantic mansion that Daniel Fenton had directed them to.

After the teenager had gotten over his shock at the fact that two of the world famous Teen Titans were in his room, he had quickly deduced that they couldn't stay there: if his parents or sister showed up, even HE wouldn't be able to explain away costumed metahumans. So, after Savior had loaned him a phone (which he had converted out of a small circular disc communicator that had a T on it), he had called Sam and asked if they could go to her house. She was rather startled by the request, wondering why Danny wanted to meet after all that had happened: when they had last seen each other, all Danny wanted to do was sleep. Danny tried to explain, and then Savior had taken the phone away and explained in clipped tones who he was and why he and his teammates would appreciate it if they could use her house for a temporary base. Sam was skeptical, and Savior had seen hints that she was trying to ask Danny if he was in trouble, but he had expected that and set the communicator up beforehand so he could deal with the problem if it arose, which it had. After two minutes of not really getting anywhere, Savior had heard a slight gasp from Sam as something happened on her end. That something was Starfire and Cyborg landing the T-Ship in front of her house, due to the fact that Savior had set his device to trace the call, match the number against an address in Amity Park, and direct the T-Ship to it. Savior offered to have them come in and say hello, but that was enough for Sam to be convinced. Savior had asked Sam to let his teammates in and handed the phone back to Danny, who had sounded like Sam was asking him for explanations. Danny heard another gasp on the end after a bit, and he looked alarmed, and then Sam said that she expected to hear from him soon and hung up. Danny had stared at the phone, puzzled at the second gasp, until Savior had pointed out that his two teammates were a cyborg and an orange skinned alien, and even to a woman who saw ghosts every second day that was a rather unique and startling sight.

Danny had then called Tucker and asked him to meet them, though he kept his call short and vague, as the one with the crazy white hair was clearly getting impatient. As Danny hung up and handed the device back to him, he wondered why he had called Tucker at all: sure, he was Danny's friend, but the white haired leader, Savior, clearly wanted to talk turkey, and Danny honestly couldn't see what Tucker could contribute. Only his subconscious really knew why he'd done what he'd done: the presence of two "official" superheroes, and ones that had been through a hell of a lot if the scattered news reports Danny had heard, intimidated him, and he wanted his friends for support.

And by then the adrenaline rush of the suddenness of the two Titans' arrival was wearing off and Danny's exhaustion was coming back full bore. He had tried begging off, saying he needed sleep, but Savior had been insistent they talk now, and in the end the female, Raven, who didn't talk much, had actually picked him up with some kind of telekinetic power and the three had left out the window, Raven carrying him. Danny would have protested in some form…if he hadn't been so tired. It was a good thing Raven and Savior already knew the way: he was in no condition to give directions.

And when Savior had arrived, he hadn't expected much. Danny had mentioned his friend Sam had a big house, but that was kind of like saying the Pacific Ocean was a body of water. The presence of so much money immediately put Savior off: he KNEW what immense wealth did to people, and if someone raised in that environment was one of Danny's friends, it could potentially be a problem.

Then Sam had answered the door, and Savior had come face to face with the serious faced goth, and decided his assessment had been erroneous.

Then she had started talking, and he had refined his assessment once more: it could be a problem, just not in the way he had expected. But still some trouble. But Savior didn't have time to worry about that. Yet.

"So, you're Savior huh?" She asked. "Nice name, but don't you think it's a tad…"

"Pretentious? Nope, no one has ever brought that up. You are the first one to ever make that point. I have never even considered that that could be an aspect of my name." Savior replied, his voice laced with sarcasm and irritation.

"Geez, don't have a conniption fit. Call yourself whatever you want. If I was going to comment on anything, it would be those clothes." Sam replied. After Danny's simple black and white outfit, Savior's white jeans and white leather jacket with T's on the side and a stylized S on the back struck her as insanely conspicuous, especially considering Savior's towering DBZ style hair. "Good to know the message of being subtle has seeped into the superhero mindset."

"It's a image thing. One can't fight it." Savior replied, and offered his hand. Sam took it, though she wasn't very enthusiastic.

"Your friends have set up in my living room." She said.

"Is anyone else here?"

"No. My parents have gone overseas. Apparently there's something their "This Would Be Good To Purchase" guy wants them to look at."

"And they left you ALONE?"

"They trust me."

"That's not what I would call it." Savior said. Sam's eyes darkened, but she let Savior's comment about her parent's supposed indifference towards her slide. In truth, her parents hadn't left her alone: there were the house's servants. But they knew where their bread was buttered, and when she tossed them a bonus that was double their average month's salary for a few days and told them to get lost they listened. Sometimes, Sam just wanted some privacy. In the end it turned out to be a good thing.

"Your robot member is currently ordering from every restaurant in town. Virtually all meat dishes of course." Sam said, her voice containing a faint undertone of irritation/resignment that vegetarians have with the rest of the world.

"Ah man they didn't try and leech off you…" Savior complained.

"I volunteered it. It gave me an excuse to get away from that Starfire friend of yours. I don't know what you have her on, but I suggest you lessen her dosage."

"Actually, she's naturally like that." Raven said as she stepped in, dragging a nearly completely out of it again Danny Fenton with her. Sam's face expressed brief shock, as if wondering how anyone could live 24/7 with that kind of person, and then she noticed how Danny was entering the room, or specifically, how he was being dragged by a black energy appendage that came from Raven's hand.

"What in the…did you drag him out of bed and all the way over here?" She said incredulously.

"We needed information that only he can give us. And we needed it posthaste." Savior said.

"But…do you know what he did today?"

"You mean that mess at your school? Yes." Savior said.

"Then don't you think he deserves to rest?"

"And don't you think I don't want to take the chance that tomorrow he could have mysteriously spontaneously combusted in his bed? You can't time things like the one your boyfriend…"

"He's not my boyfriend." Sam snapped, cutting him off.

"Really? Huh. Ok fine, your friend Danny, has stumbled into."

"In other words, he can sleep when he's dead." Raven commented as she dragged Danny into the living room. That woke Danny up.

"Wha? Huh? Sleep dead? What?" Danny stammered.

"It was a JOKE." Raven said, and sighed. "This is why I leave the humor to the others."

"As for letting him sleep, we will, but for now we need him, but don't worry, we're not slave drivers." Savior said, as Raven set Danny down on one of the lavish couches that was in the living room. "You bring it Cyborg?"

"Sure did." Cyborg said as he produced a crazy looking helmet that looked like it had been pulled right out of a cheap sci-fi movie.

"What? What's with the helmet?" Sam asked.

"No helmet. This is my Instant Re-Energizing Refresher. It will give your friend Danny here the effects of a full night's sleep in a few seconds." Cyborg said, as he began putting it on Danny's head: Danny was too groggy to protest.

"What?" Sam asked. "What if you fry his brains?"

"Hasn't happened yet." Savior said, with just a tad too much glib for Sam's taste: she crossed her arms and frowned deeply.

"Tell me, if you invented something like that, why didn't you mass market it in order to fund your 'war on crime'." Sam said, actually making finger quotations around the last three words.

"Thing's not perfect: it only works for about an hour." Cyborg said. "But that will be enough time for an information exchange and some planning, then we'll fly Lenny back home for a proper night's sleep."

"His name is DANNY." Sam said, with just an edge of righteous, you-muck-with-his-brain-but-you-don't-know-his-name indignation.

"Sorry. I just got here." Cyborg said, as he finished adjusting the helmet. "Now just relax Danny, you'll feel a slight buzz in your teeth."

And Cyborg turned it on.

Danny gave a brief spasm. It was mild but noticeable, as was Sam's eye-bugging oh-god-the-morons-fried-his-brain-after-all reaction.

Then Danny sat up, blinked, and got up, reaching up and taking the helmet off.

"Wow! I feel completely refreshed!" Danny said, pumping his arm.

A slight growling noise followed.

"But I'm still hungry…" Danny groaned.

"JOY!" Came a sudden happy yell, and suddenly Danny found a female face right in his, a female that happened to have orange skin and green eyes. "The ghost boy has recovered! Hello Danny, I am Starfire! What is your codename, how did you get your powers, WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE MY FRIEND?" Starfire said, getting closer and closer to Danny with each enthusiastic question, to the point where Danny was leaning backwards at an angle that couldn't be good for his spine so Starfire didn't inadvertingly end up kissing him.

"Uh…"

"OK MISS, we already escaped one possible damaging of Danny's nervous system, we don't need another!" Sam said, as she tried to insinuate herself between Starfire and Danny and push the alien girl away, which was easier said then done as said alien girl had the strength of 30 strong earth men.

"But I just want to be his friend!" Starfire said, confused at this interruption. She hadn't even been able to give Danny a hug…

"You can be his friend later. We need to talk business Star." Savior said, putting a hand on Starfire's shoulder. The alien looked at the human who was her leader, in semi-official terms anyway, and then back at Sam, looking at the expression in Sam's eyes, and then her eyes lit up in recognition.

"Oh! I understand!" She said, and with a giggle she sat down again. Sam's left eyebrow twitched: she was certain there was a subtext in there that she didn't really want to hear. Again.

Danny, now fully alert, was once soaking in the fact that he was in fairly distinguished company, as he looked around as the four Titans sitting around him.

"Danny." One of them said, and Danny jerked at the noise. Savior sighed inwardly, but he let Danny be starstruck. Being a person with special powers himself, it would fade quickly. Hopefully. And besides, god knows all of them had acted that way at one point over one superhero or another. Usually Superman, but that was understandable, he had one hell of a presence…

"Danny…" Savior continued. "We…"

"Hold on." Sam said. "Before we talk about anything, one thing has to be made clear: how did you find out Danny's secret identity?"

"Yeah!" Danny said, as his freshly awakened brain realized that finally as well. "I mean, no one has drawn any connections…well except one maybe…but everyone else…"

And then a doorbell rang.

"Is that the food? That was quick." Cyborg said.

"I'll answer the door. No sense scaring the heck out of a poor deliveryman there big guy." Sam said as she got up and left the room.

"Your secret identity wasn't too difficult to figure out Danny." Savior began.

"It wasn't?" The young teen replied, looking crestfallen.

"No no, Danny. Not like that." Savior said. "We…"

"…your parents are getting even weirder Sam…" A voice floated in the room. "I mean buying a Sumerian artifact is one thing, but what the heck is that thing you have parked outside in the trees…"

And then Tucker walked in.

And stopped.

Brief silence as he saw who was in the room.

A true calm before the storm.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH! SUPERHEROES!" Tucker yelled. Unlike Danny, who had been rather controlled, Tucker promptly lost his starstruck mind.

"The Teen Titans! In Sam's living room! The Teen TITANS!" Tucker yelled, as he ran in and started running around much like a kid would on Christmas morning. "Oh man, you guys are awesome! Can I have your autographs? Can I have your pictures? Can I have some DNA?"

A white energy line fired out and gently wrapped around Tucker before he slipped and brained himself in his fervor.

"Kid! Kid, calm down! Please!" Savior said, his power having been the one who had wrapped Tucker up. "We need…"

"THE SHIMMER! I'M WRAPPED UP IN THE SHIMMER!" Tucker yelled on the point of a howl. "I'LL NEVER WASH…"

"KID!"

Savior's bellow actually worked and managed to shut Tucker up.

"Your enthusiasm is great, but this is a serious matter! If you are a part of this inner circle, you surely know why that is, and just how big the problem is. So if you can sit down and keep calm for a bit, because right now such zeal is highly counterproductive to what has to be done!"

Silence.

"Can you sign your autograph with this?" Tucker said, holding up part of the Shimmer: Savior had, as mentioned, only done a loose wrap, which allowed Tucker to hold the energy up.

Savior facevaulted.

"What was THAT?" Sam said, alarmed at the sudden, violent tumble the white haired metahuman had taken. You can forgive her for being startled: her series is not anime-derived.

"I could say the same thing about your friend here." Savior said as he got up. "Kid, sit down. Please. We can talk about autographs later."

Savior unwound Tucker and sat down, and the black teen actually managed to sit down himself, though he was twitching so much he probably was going to eventually vibrate right off the couch, so great was his excitement. It almost depressed Danny a bit, that Tucker would flip so much over the Teen Titans, considering the way he had been when Danny had demonstrated his powers: it had been a rather a blasé attitude. But hey, image meant a lot.

"Now, before we were interrupted…Danny, there have been a few pictures taken of you in your powered state. We cleaned one up enough so that we could get a good enough look at you. Then we started doing background research to help us with our problem. Since we theorized, due to Raven's alert over Sizzle's return, that she might be a spirit of some kind, we decided to check the town to see if there were any precedents in such manifestations. It didn't take us too long to find your Dad's website. Which happens to have a picture of your family on it Danny. And it doesn't take a genius to put your picture next to the entity and gamble that the different hair color and outfit might not be just a coincidence. So, as I said, it wasn't too difficult…and I can see you're starting to get worried." Savior said, noting Danny's graying pallor again.

"Oh man…if you could…"

"Danny…relax." Cyborg said. "Just because we figured it out doesn't mean it's automatically going to become a cinch for everyone else."

"But all you did was take a picture and…"

"Danny…keep in mind we were on the outside looking in. That tends to help in these situations. People close to people like you, people with secrets…they tend to rationalize such fantastic things away. We checked in at the site of your battle, interviewed some people in disguise. Only one person would outright admit seeing Sizzle come out of that Valerie Grey's body. Everyone else gave a wildly different opinion of what they saw, all of which was basically their way of refusing to admit to themselves they saw a ghost come out of her. Same with you Danny." Raven said.

Danny didn't look comforted.

"Ok Danny, let me put it this way." Savior said. "You know Batman?"

"Yeah."

"Now, considering the witness reports of the gear Batman has been seen to be carrying, we can assume Batman would need a great deal of wealth to fund his war on crime."

"Yeah."

"So we must assume Batman is independently wealthy."

"Yeah…"

"So could we safely assume Batman is, say, Donald Trump?"

"What? No way…oh god, is he…?" Danny said.

"No, he's not Donald Trump. Probably." Savior said. "The point is, people tend to have their pre-set views, and even if a bunch of evidence is pointing at someone, if it doesn't fit their pre-set views, they won't believe it. So much like those people couldn't admit they saw a ghost coming out of Mrs. Grey's body, people won't believe that some superpowered benevolent entity is really some dumb kid…"

"HEY!"

"I wasn't being literal." Savior added. "Some kid who is the son of some nut who thinks ghosts are ready to wage war on us."

"But…a bunch of ghosts invaded the town! I should know, the whole mess made me Public Enemy No 1 in the Ghost Zone! And it made the whole town hate me! And..." Danny began,

"And then what happened?" Savior interrupted.

Danny looked at the white haired elder teen, and then he remembered what had happened: the town had only needed a mocking by some arrogant professors to stop beleveing in ghosts, despite that Danny hadn't stopped fighting them in front of their eyes. They explained it away.

"...But still..." Danny said, not needing to verbally express his realization. He was sure Savior already knew. That didn't stop his worry though, and his expression showed it.

"Perception is a very powerful thing Danny." Raven said.

"Yeah, the phrase may be 'I'll believe it when I see it', but the truth is, most people are 'I'll see it when I believe it'." Cyborg added.

"And even then..." Savior said off-handedly, slying referencing that yes, he did know about the town's conversion to believers and then almost immediately back to skeptics and deniers. "It's why the people closest to you don't draw the connection, while we were able to." Savior finished. "But don't push it. People might be willingly blind, but even THEY will eventually start to entertain such things if TOO much evidence is being presented."

Silence.

"Hey, you know Batman?" Tucker said. The abrupt switch nearly made all the Titans facevault, which probably wouldn't be too healthy in this style of cartooning.

"Yes." Savior replied, a hint of irritation in his voice.

"Wow! That must be cool!"

"No. He's an asshole." Savior replied.

Everyone looked at Savior in shock, including his teammates.

"What?" He asked.

"Mr. Worship The Bat And Aspire To Attain 1/10th Of His Level Of Skill just called his fanboy idol an asshole." Cyborg said.

"You misunderstand me Cyborg. My respect for his skills and intelligence and abilities could fill this whole house twice over, and I'd love to be trained by him and work with him…but general personality? You and I both know he's an asshole." Savior said.

"You're lucky Robin isn't here to hear this Savior." Starfire said, speaking for the first time in a bit.

"He AGREES with me Star. Why do you think he formed this team? Hanging around Batman 24/7 is a serious drag."

"Can we get back on topic?" Sam said. Savior glanced wryly at the girl for stealing his usual line. She didn't back down.

"Right…"

The doorbell rang again.

"NOW the food gets here." Cyborg said.

"Let's hope so." Savior muttered to himself as Sam went to answer the door. It would just make his night if it was Sizzle in her latest host. Then again, it would save them the trouble of hunting her down.

In the end, it was the food, and fifteen minutes later Starfire, Cyborg, Danny, and Tucker were pigging out, while Sam watched in horror at the feeding frenzy and Savior and Raven were trying to hide their embarrassment. When Starfire starting drinking the mustard, Savior was ready to fake a call on his communicator so he had an excuse to not sit here and watch it, except Sam saved him the trouble, as she suddenly turned and faced the pair.

"Where were you?" She said, with just a hint of accusation. Savior arched an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?"

"You're here now. You said you sensed Sizzle's return and that you were interviewing people around the battle site. Well, where the heck were you when Danny was fighting for his life?"

"Somewhere over South Carolina and hoping our ship wouldn't fly apart considering it was going at Mach 3." Savior replied, his trace of irritation creeping back into his voice. "You have to understand Sam, we don't have a Speed Force user on our team…"

"What's a Speed Force?" Sam interrupted.

"The energy that powers the Flash and those other super-speedsters." Tucker said, before he resumed tearing apart another large chicken wing.

"What he said. So, since we don't have Kid Flash living with us, we can't zip all over the United States in a few seconds…"

"But can't Raven teleport?" Tucker said again. Savior looked at the black teen, the irritation clear now. His expression was mirrored in Sam's face, though her irritation was possibly due to the fact that the teenagers seemed to have lied to her about doing their best to get here.

"My maximum distance is a hundred miles or so. Your city is nearly a thousand miles away from our Tower, and we were over six hundred miles away from it when I sensed that Sizzle had shown up again. You have to understand, sensing a presence is like radar: it's possible to go below it. When I felt her again, we were already on route, and we pushed ourselves as best we could, but by the time we got there it was already over. And before you suggest I should have teleported ahead myself, six rapid fire 100 mile transfers would have exhausted me and left me utterly incapable of helping Danny at all." Raven replied.

"Besides, the rookie did pretty good on his own." Savior added.

"Excuse me?" Danny said, putting down the two bites remaining in his cheeseburger. "Did you call me a rookie?"

"It's what you are, aren't you?" Savior replied matter of factly.

"Hey, I'm no rookie!"

"Oh really, why aren't you?"

"I have a main nemesis!"

"Most of us get those in our first and second battles."

"I saved my town!"

"Pretty good but still not worthy of a promotion."

"I'M NOT A ROOKIE!"

"You've been doing this for less then four months. Yes. You are." Savior said in a tone of finality. "But don't let that offend you kid. Being a rookie doesn't really mean anything. I never said you didn't have talent. I'd say what happened at your school shows your potential."

"But half the school was trashed!" Danny blurted, before realizing he had just shot himself in the foot and given more ammo to Savior's assessment that he was a rookie. Heck, that he had blurted something like that out without thinking gave ammo to that credence. Savior didn't pick up on it though. Well either that or he let it slide.

"True, the school's pretty messed up. And there's a fair amount of injuries. But there wasn't a single casualty. Even the bad injuries are in stable condition with high hopes that everyone will recover. So, despite being a rookie, you prevented Sizzle from killing anyone. Pretty damn good, kid."

"Then why do I still sense you're looking down on Danny?" Sam interjected.

"That's for you to decide miss." Savior replied. "Assessments aside…are you done eating Danny?"

"Yeah."

"Ok. I want you to tell me everything that has happened from the moment Sizzle showed up."

Danny did so, laying out Sizzle's initial possession of his sister, the battle that followed, Sizzle's disappearance, her re-appearance at the school, and everything that had happened in the second battle, with occasional side trips to explain some things like how Danny had gotten his powers or what the gear from his father did. Savior listened attentively, and though they were still eating, Sam could tell his fellows were listening as well.

"Ok." Savior said when Danny was done. "So what we know is, Sizzle can't command an unconscious host. Nor will she even THINK of possessing a male. We can use that. You say you tried to trap her in your Fenton Thermos…" Savior said, and his thoughts were briefly interrupted by a chuckle.

"What?" Danny said.

"Nothing…just, a Thermos? I mean, if it works, great…but a Thermos?"

"Don't ask what my dad thinks." Danny replied.

"Right. Anyway, your first Thermos couldn't hold her. Your dad is supposedly building another one that can…we will need that Danny. Preferably yesterday."

"My dad works fast when he's obsessed."

"Right. Well, since your Incapacitator was destroyed, we need another way of knocking Sizzle's host out. But I don't think that will be too much of a problem between the five of us…and even if it is, we can always have Danny go into whatever host's body and yank her out. We also need to try and prevent her from doing any more damage. So, that's what we know. So, what DON'T we know?"

"Why does she HATE me?" Danny asked. Savior, who had been looking away from the teen after the last second, turned his eyes towards him again. Danny didn't much like the look in them: there was sympathy, but there was also calculation and a VERY slight hint of pathos.

"Let me put it this way. Sam, you ever had the unpleasant experience of waking up in the middle of the night having to use the washroom, only to get a rude shock in realizing that someone left the toilet seat up?" Savior asked. Sam looked shocked, and then offended at the question.

"Why the hell should I tell you something like that?"

"Did you?" Savior asked, as if Sam hadn't even spoken. Irritation flared up in Sam, and though she kept it hidden, Raven, an empath, felt it anyway. _Great. On top of Sizzle's return, my boyfriend and Danny's not-girlfriend are going to start butting heads._

"……….Yes." Sam finally said, her teeth slightly clenched. If Savior noticed her bother, he didn't say or do anything.

"I'll bet something like that gives you brief dark thoughts about all males."

"Indeed, it does." Starfire said, and everyone looked at her. "Well it does."

"Yeah." Sam agreed.

"Ok. Take those brief feelings, make them your dominant mindset, and multiply them about a hundred bazillion times. Then you get the way Sizzle thinks. Basically Danny, she hates you because you were there."

"What?" Danny said in disbelief.

"I know. It's hard to believe that such an incredible rage could be directed at you considering you haven't done anything…but Danny, you have to understand. When Sizzle was alive, she was just like this, and apparently her death has removed all her self-restraint. Whatever happened to her that made her hate men so much, being killed and then floating around in that Ghost Zone for god knows how long just made it worse. And when she got out…basically, you got hit by her lightning Danny. You were there. That's pretty much it." Savior said.

Danny looked sick at the prospect that such fury could be directed at him for such a stupid reason.

"Don't try and understand it." Savior said, as if he was reading Danny's mind. "You have to learn that you cannot comprehend why some people and some things act the way they do. You might as well try to think like an amoeba, or an ant, or a whale. The mindset of insanity is virtually impossible to grasp at times, and Sizzle is a poster child for such things. And also Danny, don't start whining about it. It's a waste of time. She saw you, and now she's psychotically fixated on you. You can't change that fact. She wants to kill you, and she won't rest until she does, and gathering from her words, there's no low she won't sink to to get what she wants. You have become the target of her vengeance against men. So don't try to deal with it. That doesn't work in these situations. What you have to do is fight back with an even stronger vengeance. Because in the end, despite all her mad rantings, you're in the right Danny. Don't forget that."

"And you think Danny doesn't know this?" Sam asked.

"Sometimes it's hard to know what people like you think." Savior replied.

"What's THAT supposed to mean?"

"Ok, TIME." Tucker said, forming a T with his hands. "Ok guys, you ran into Sizzle before. My question is, was she this powerful before?"

"No. She was a pyrokinetic, and could do some flame tricks, and I doubt we saw what she was fully capable of…but I doubt it was as extreme as this. It takes a hell of a lot of effort to will the type of heat and force she was using into being."

"You think she might have been training in that so called Ghost Zone?" Cyborg asked.

"I don't think so. Sizzle always struck me as an action kind of girl. She wanted a way out, and once she was out, she wanted something to hurt. I don't think she would train." Starfire said.

"Yet she's clearly a lot stronger. So where did it come from?"

"I think it's her rage." Raven said. "Murdercrow's pain and anger was absorbed by our tower, which caused it to act like a amplifier, greatly boosting her own abilities, not to mention Jinx's. I think Sizzle's own form might be acting like that. Her anger keeps feeding on itself, growing more and more intense…and if something actually enrages her, her power spikes appropriately."

"Great. So the madder bitch gets, the stronger bitch gets." Savior muttered.

"Possibly. There might be more to it, but for now that's my theory." Raven replied.

"You think you could tone it down with your powers Raven?" Starfire enquired.

"What? Tone it down?" Danny said, confused.

"I'm an empath. I can sense, manipulate, and if I so desire, absorb emotions. But I have limits." Raven said. "Sizzle's anger is too toxic, too intense. Rage is a natural human thing, and when I take that from a person it's like sucking poison from a wound…but the kind of fury that drives a person mad and turns her into something like this, it's too dangerous. It would be far more akin to sucking some of the poison out and injecting it into my own veins. I was ultimately able to reason with Murdercrow and grant her peace…that can't happen with Sizzle. She WANTS this existence of death and destruction. I'm afraid that any solution towards her might have to be more permanent." Raven said.

"Which brings up MY question. Danny here says his dad will make a Thermos that can hold Sizzle. Question is, even if we get her out of a host and can suck her into it…what do we DO with her?" Cyborg asked.

"Normally I would just release her back into the Ghost Zone…" Danny said, already seeing where it was going.

"And she'd just come right back madder then ever." Raven answered.

"Is there some kind of way one of you could imprison her or lock her or seal her to some place or something?" Sam asked.

"I don't know any spells myself. I could always contact Jason Blood or Dr. Fate." Raven said, referencing two of the most powerful sorcerers in the world. "The problem is Sizzle. Outside, she's a constant threat, not just to Danny but everyone else in this city, and beyond. And even if we can seal her in the Thermos, Mr. Fenton promised it would hold her, but he didn't say for how long."

"What about the Oxygen Destroyer, we could put that into effe…" Savior began.

"NO." Cyborg said, his voice firm and on the point of outright anger as he cut Savior off. "That is ABSOLUTELY out of the question."

"What's the Oxygen Destroyer? Besides the weapon used in the first Godzilla movie?" Tucker asked.

"Geekly astute there Tucker. It's a non-lethal weapon Cyborg's been trying to develop. The finished form will briefly suck all the air out of a certain area for a bit, making people pass out. Problem is, it's still being developed and there are a lot of kinks in it. Instead of sucking out some air and then stopping, it keeps sucking and hence could very well prove fatal. But since fire needs oxygen to exist and Sizzle exists in her spirit state as sentient fire and if we have no other choice…" Savior said.

"At the moment, WE HAVE OTHER CHOICES. Now we are not using the Oxygen Destroyer. Not if I can help it, and believe me, I brought plenty of stuff to help it." Cyborg said, his voice grim. The reason was the last time Cyborg has tested out an experimental weapon, it had gone wrong and nearly blown up a building full of people. That possibility weighed heavily on Victor Stone, as he had sworn he wouldn't be using any more developed weapons until they were perfect.

"Great. So we can't stop her for good, and if we don't grab her I'm doomed, and if we do grab her we might just be putting a raincheck on my being doomed." Danny said, looking unhappy.

"That's a constant theme in our lives. It would be best if you got used to it early." Savior commented. Danny gave him a look that said Savior wasn't helping: Savior ignored it. Sam frowned again.

"Ok guys." Savior said. "No matter what, we need some kind of a plan. Danny, you're the key. Sizzle wants you dead. So we'll shadow you until she shows up, even if we have to do it 24/7 for the next month. Don't worry, we'll be subtle." Savior said, cutting off the complaint he could see Danny begin to make. "In fact, that gives me an idea. Sizzle wants Danny? I say we take Danny out of town and make her come to us."

"You want to use Danny as BAIT?" Sam said disbelievingly.

"Well, yes."

Sam's eyes darkened again.

"Look, I'll admit I don't have the greatest amount of knowledge on superhero interactions, but I think you should treat Danny better then 'Here's a hook, impale yourself on it'." Sam said.

"Yeah. This IS his turf." Tucker added.

"Oh really. Ok Danny, what would you suggest we do?"

"Uh…er…um…can I have a lifeline?" Danny asked.

"Exactly. This is his town still Tucker. Not his turf. He's too new at this. So I still say we 'use him as bait', mainly because if Sizzle comes after him, I would prefer it to be in the middle of nowhere, rather in the middle of a bunch of buildings and people that Sizzle can set alight." Savior said, directing the last part at Sam. Sam's eyebrows narrowed.

"Oh really. That's your plan?" She asked.

"You have a better idea?"

"Just that Sizzle KNOWS that this is Danny's town, and if you disappear, she might very well decide to bring him back to her instead of going after him and burn Amity Park to the ground, which you will be unable to stop because you are in the middle of Nowheresville USA instead of HERE." Sam fired back.

Silence.

Savior opened his mouth, paused, and then shut it again.

Silence again.

"Point." He finally said, though he clearly did not want to say it. "Well then, we obviously need another plan. And you can start the brainstorming on it because I need some water." Savior said, getting up and walking out of the room. He almost kept up the complete illusion of a person leaving for water. Almost.

"Well. Congratulations girl. You actually managed to one-up Savior. Not many people can be said to have done that." Raven said.

"I wasn't trying to one-up him. I don't like the way he's treating Danny. I get the sense that he's a step away from being openly condescending to him, and by association to us, just because Danny has only been doing this a short time. I mean, we all have to…"

"Start somewhere. Yeah. But even when he was new at being a metahuman, Savior was a lot like he is now."

"Is he ALWAYS like this?" Danny asked.

"Pretty much." Cyborg replied. "He's pretty good at fighting and planning and tactical stuff…but when it comes to social interaction, Savior can stumble pretty badly. He thinks way too much about our profession, and mostly the bad things that happen about it."

"Indeed, it takes him a while to warm up to new faces. Much like his idol, Batman, he's immensely suspicious of anyone with power, especially just acquired power. That's why he keeps calling you rookie Danny. He's not TOTALLY disrespecting you…but part of him sees your newness as a flaw. And part of him sees anyone with ANY kind of power as a flaw. Even himself." Starfire said.

"I blame Gauntlet." Raven said, referencing one of their OC teammates: a happy jokester who was always smiling and goofy and ready, as Bob and George might say, to do something stupid. Due to their great difference in personalities, the two never got along.

"What did he do?" Tucker asked.

"Nothing, except be himself, which irritates Savior in and of itself, but Savior was also disturbed by the fact that Gauntlet got his power by getting his name picked out of the phone book."

Sam goggled.

"REALLY?"

"Yep." Cyborg said.

"Gauntlet aside, Savior is mistrustful by nature. But he should warm to you eventually. Maybe." Raven said.

"And if he doesn't?" Sam said.

Silence.

"But…isn't it a bad thing to have someone like that on your team?" Tucker asked.

"It has its flaws." Cyborg said. "But Savior's mindset has a fair amount of grounds. There's been more then a few instances of heroes being corrupted by their power, or their own wants, or something, sometimes without even being aware of it. You combine that with teenagers, a lot of whom have no clue how the world really works…present company excluded, of course, and well, bad things can happen. REALLY bad things." Cyborg said. "Savior considers himself to be our little moral guardian, and we let him think that, because it helps us get along. But outsiders don't have the luxury."

"It doesn't matter. You people are here to help Danny. Whether or not you trust him shouldn't be an issue." Sam said. "I've known Danny my whole life. He's a good kid, and he's a brave warrior. He shouldn't get treatment like the kind Savior was giving him, especially considering he fought off Sizzle twice by himself."

"Yes, and I'm not asking you excuse his actions…I might have a talk with him myself…but you have to…ok, let me tell you a story. Considering that our current problem has to do with fire, it's even more appropriate." Cyborg said.

The story was about something that had happened to the Justice League, or more specifically, had happened to their alien member J'onn J'onzz. Most people knew him as the Martian Manhunter, but that codename didn't exactly roll off the tongue, so most of his fellows just called him J'onn. He was, as his name suggested, a Martian, from Mars, and the last of his kind, as he was inadvertently teleported to Earth shortly before a catastrophe destroyed his species. Alone on a strange planet with a species that tended to fear and hate anything they couldn't understand, J'onn innate nobility had eventually led to him becoming a superhero, and he was one of the founding members of the original Justice League. He made a good superhero, as Martians had far far greater biological gifts then the average human, including telepathy, flight, and incredible command over their own bodies that allowed them to shapeshift into virtually anything or turn their forms intangible much like Danny could. Indeed, he was probably the most powerful member of the team behind Superman. However, Martians had one weakness: fire. And it was a severe one: just being in the presence of a lit match would dull a Martian's senses. Fire would prove fatal to virtually all Martians: it was a testament to J'onn's immense personal strength and character that he had managed to survive all his encounters with flame. And it was a useful thing when an offshoot of J'onn's species, the White Martians, showed up, as they, much like the Romulans to the Vulcans in Star Trek, were very nasty and possessing all of J'onn's powers.

However, J'onn had eventually gotten tired of villains taking advantage of his weakness, and had decided he was going to purge of his body of it's fire weak point. For this end he recruited a villain known as Scorch, and she tortured him for weeks at his own request. Ultimately though, it had worked: J'onn had overcome his weakness to fire and had actually fallen for Scorch, and she him. And it seemed like it would all be good…

And then it all went to hell. Literally.

For J'onn's treatment had had consequences he could never have expected, for they had been wiped from his species' memory. You see, millions of years in the past, the Martians, as a species, had not existed as they had when J'onn had been pulled to Earth. No, the species of peace-loving Martians had once been another, an even NASTIER species of aliens then the White Martians known as the Burning Martians, who had even greater powers then the average Martian and had wrecked havoc across the universe. Finally, the Guardians of the Universe (who also commanded the Green Lantern Corps, in cast you were wondering who they were) had stepped in and literally re-written the entire Martian species' DNA, turning them into a peaceful, less powerful (but still considerably so) race. And to make sure the Burning Martians could never return, they had wiped all memory of that species from the current Martian's and encoded in their body a terrible weakness to fire, an essential part of what made the Burning Martians what they were. And all had seemed good…

Until J'onn had trained his body to lose said weakness, which had destroyed the lock that held the Burning Martian his kind had once been in check, and it emerged, overwhelming J'onn's form and displacing his consciousness. Calling itself Fernus, the Burning Martian had wrecked havoc, easily thrashing the JLA with its immense telepathic, shapeshifting, and fire-generating powers, and had nearly destroyed a good chunk of the Earth when it had launched ten nuclear missiles. In the end, it fell to Plastic Man, whose body and mind had mutated a great beyond what a human normally was and hence was in a form that Fernus could not attack with telepathy, fire, or matter-alteration, to be the last stand, and he had stepped up to the plate and hit a home run, even as the JLA managed to stop the missiles and J'onn managed to literally rip himself right out of Fernus' form, the Burning Martian now literally a different being that J'onn separated himself from like a parasite before the League joined to bring about Fernus' end. But the ending was not without consequences, as in the process Scorch had been mortally wounded and had sunk into a deep coma, which she had not emerged from since. And though the JLA knew J'onn was blameless and had welcomed him back into their ranks, J'onn was still scarred by what he had become and what that power had done.

"And that's pretty much why Savior doesn't act too nice around you Danny." Cyborg finished. "He thinks too much. He looks at all the villains and what their powers did to them, and what it made them do to others, and while those are bad, it's even worse when one of our own goes bad…and the worst part is, sometimes they don't even want to. Savior knows this, and he can't help watching for it. With everyone. The phrase goes that power corrupts, and Savior knows that all too well. And to him, it's not a matter of whether power will corrupt…but rather, WHEN it will."

"And sadly, he might have a strong basis for it. You want to hear the story of when we met Christmas, his evil self from another timeline?" Starfire asked.

"No…I think I've heard enough stories." Danny said. "In fact, I think I need some water myself…"

And the ghost boy got up, his head reeling from the story he had been told as he headed into the hall, stopped, and then leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. The original problem of Savior not treating him very nicely had ceased to be important as the questions that had arisen in his mind as he heard the story of J'onn and Fernus.

Sizzle had scared him, but in a way he could fight against, by fighting her. But the story had, despite it's original intent to make him feel better about Savior's occasional subtle barbs at him (and if he'd had a bit more wherewithal, he would have pointed out that a few faint knocks as his inexperience was nothing after several years of mistreatment at the hands of Dash and his ilk. At least Danny knew he could win Savior's respect, as tricky as it might be. With Dash, that was impossible, and he knew it), made him feel worse for an entirely different reason.

No, what had bothered Danny was much like what bothered Savior: his power and what could happen if it went wrong. At least J'onn had the excuse that his species was naturally powerful and it couldn't be helped, but the reason Danny had his power was because he had a brain fart and decided to fiddle with his father's ghost portal after it appeared to have konked out on his parents and the next thing he realized he had snow white hair and glowing green eyes…heh, that sounded poetic. There ought to be a song.

But he had power now. A fair amount. And he was just a dumb kid.

Could he really control himself? Would he really know he was being corrupted until it was too late? Vlad's offer was one thing, but that was something you could see. It was the little things that you never realized were there…until you found they had changed you to the point that you didn't even who you were any more. Danny would bet anyone a million dollars a good chunk of Sizzle's madness came from the fact she discovered that she could light people on fire, and that the ability to do so didn't take her pain away. Would that happen to him? Would the harshness and outright horrors of life reach out and touch him, and leave a mark he wasn't even aware of, a mark that would grow and grow until he found he had become a worse threat then even Sizzle was…

"Having a crisis of faith?"

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Danny screamed, as the voice spoke in the shadows, and then Savior slipped from them. Danny's heart was still hammering though, as he realized the white haired teen had obviously been there for a bit and Danny had never noticed, and considering how Savior wore extremely bright colors he didn't exactly blend into the woodwork. Another supposed notch in the belt of Savior's assessment that he was a rookie.

"How long have you been standing there?" Danny asked.

"Long enough to overhear some of Cyborg's little tale. I'm assuming it struck a chord in you."

"And it's funny how despite your assessment of Batman's personality, you still act a lot like him." Danny said.

"True…but Batman is right a lot of the time. I'd like to think I share some of that…for better or for worse." Savior replied.

Danny didn't say anything, because he wasn't sure what to say.

"How do you do it?" He finally asked.

"Hide in the shadows?" Savior replied. "I don't see why you'd need that skill, you can turn invisible…"

"No no. I mean this. This life. You keep making comments about me being a rookie. Well, maybe I am. Maybe you have been doing this a lot longer then me. Well then, how do you live this life?" Danny asked.

"You mean being a superhero?"

"Yes!"

"Hmmmmmmm…ah Danny, if I had the answer to that, I'd be a lot happier person." Savior said. Danny looked crestfallen again. "Why?"

"……..I'm afraid." Danny replied.

"That's normal. Just don't let it control you."

"No…I'm afraid of myself."

"Because you have power and you're worried my assessments might be true?"

"Yeah…"

Savior gave Danny a pondering look.

"Danny…like I said…I don't have a magical answer about this life. None of us do, believe me, I've looked. But I've discovered that people and beings that come into power…they take one of three paths. They can ignore the power, stick their fingers in their ears and go la la la, and try to pretend it isn't there…but I think I can count the people who have successfully done this on one hand and still have most of my fingers left over. Or they can be corrupted by the power, let their baser natures and their wants and needs rule them, give their desires and flaws free reign and become what the media so quaintly call a supervillain, and have a life chasing dreams and losing them, and probably yourself, to bitterness, madness, death, and evil itself. Or…you can take the path you and I walk: you can try and use what was given to you to serve higher ideals, despite being a creature that is not predisposed to do such things in a world that mostly heaps scorn and disparagement on those who try. It really is a road to hell paved with good intentions at times Danny. But…the worst is never the absolute Danny. That might seem hard to believe at times, nearly impossible, but if there is any great truth in this world Danny, it's that. I can't promise you victory, I can't promise you good times, I can't promise you anything. But I think in the end that this burden we bare is worth bearing. In the end, we have to be Atlas, holding up the world, and resisting the urge to shrug, and accepting that, as its own reward. That's what I hold onto Danny. It's a tenuous thing, and I've lost my grip on it, let it slip from my hands, but in the end I always managed to get it back. Because if I lost it for good Danny…I probably wouldn't be standing here. I'd probably be a tormented spirit like Sizzle, popping back into the real world to try and share my misery and madness with others. In the end, I think this path is better then that."

Danny didn't look comforted.

"Now…I need to ask a favor. I'd like to speak with my teammates, alone. Could you get your friends out of there for me?"

"What? What are you going to talk about that we can't be there for it?"

"Team stuff Danny. There are a few personal things between us you know. Don't worry, we won't be plotting behind your back. We came here to HELP you Danny. Sizzle was one of our villains, and she's still our responsibility. What good would it do if we were trying to manipulate you?"

"It could be your way of making it easier on yourself." Danny replied.

"Please Danny. I'm hardened. I'm not callous."

"You sure about that?"

Savior didn't reply.

Danny sighed and went into the room, coming back several seconds later.

"They're coming."

"Thanks."

"Look Savior…you claim you ultimately have good intentions…well, something occurred to me. How can I be sure you'll be watching my back? After all, I'm just the local 'rookie', not part of the 'team'."

"Ah yes Danny, but if I spent all my time judging everyone for their power and not trying to help them develop it in the right direction, I'd be a hypocrite. And while I'm many things, I'm not that."

"Really?"

"Scout's honor Danny."

"………Ok…" Danny said. And if you think it's strange that he seemed to drop off so suddenly, I must point out that the worries and fears are still seething within him, not to mention the fact that's Cyborg's IRR was starting to wear off.

"You ok kid?"

"I…I don't know. All I know for sure is that I'm scared. I mean…I never even thought something like this could happen. I can handle ghost hunters and mechanics and box ghosts…"

"Box ghosts?"

"Never mind. I can even handle an older, more powerful version of myself. But this…it's nuts. It's as nuts as Sizzle is. Savior, I'm only 14. I really don't want to die…" Danny said, his eyes pleading.

"No one does Danny. No one does." Savior said. "But…do you think running away would be any better?"

"I don't know. I just don't know." Danny said, and Savior's heart went out to the kid. He knew the gray areas that people like him slogged and suffered through, before they either found an answer or went nuts.

Savior was still torn on which one Danny would find.

"I'm not good at inspirational phrases, a lot of them ring hollow like the empty platitudes they are…but there's an expression, about war, which is pretty much what this life is a lot of time. Those who run from what's important, die every day. But those who die for what's important, live forever."

"Yeah, but what's important to you?" Sam suddenly said as she walked in with Tucker. Savior glanced at him, their eyes meeting.

"You, who have a base and a life that revolves around these superhero duties…it might seem that's what's important. But maybe you should remember that what's really important to some is just living a normal life, and one shouldn't have to die for that, as it renders the whole point moot." Sam said. She turned to Danny. "Come on Danny, my parents got more of that rich Swiss chocolate you like so much…"

"Oh really? Great…" Danny said, though he didn't sound very enthusiastic. Sam didn't know, at the moment, who to resent more: Sizzle for putting this cloud over Danny's head or Savior for adding to it, good intentions or not.

With the ghost boy and his friends gone, Savior made his way back into the living room that was larger then the average house and sat down on the couch that cost more then some very small nation's GNP.

"So? What do you think?"

"He is a good boy, just and noble. I could sense it in him. He will go far." Starfire said.

"Yeah, so you really shouldn't be acting like such a jerk Noel." Cyborg added.

"Maybe, but there are certain practicalities here that need to be addressed here. Sizzle's out for blood, and depending on her new abilities Danny may be the only one who can fight her. And she's pure chaos force now, a kind that can sweep up a life like Danny's and leave it an irreparable wreck. I figure it would be better if I chipped a few pieces off his statue first. Sizzle would just blow the damn statue. If you know what I mean."

"Not really." Starfire said, looking confused. Savior resisted the urge to facevault again.

"My actions aside, Danny's important. But like I said, he's young and inexperienced. He hasn't had enough time to cut his teeth yet and that could be a very bad thing both for him, us, and the citizens for this town. I don't want another Light City guys. Those deaths were all criminals and they STILL weigh on me. There's only been a few deaths so far and I don't want there to be any more, and if I have to treat Mr. Fenton like a chess piece to achieve that, I'll damn sure do it. You guys I can lead, if you'll have me, but him…I can only suggest, and if I have to, manipulate. I can tell by your looks that you don't like it, but does anyone see a serious downside to it besides the fact that it's not very nice?"

No answer.

"Exactly. It's for the greater good. Ok, you got good vibes off Danny Kory. Anyone want to refute that?"

"No. She's right. He's a good person, and he's got potential. I could sense it." Raven said.

"I got that vibe too…even though his friend was a little too fanboyish for my tastes." Cyborg said.

"Yeah, I noticed. Mr. Tucker is in love with the romantic notions of being a superhero. He doesn't realize those parts of life are few and far between, if they happen at all. And speaking of his friends, I need to raise something else." Savior said. "Danny's friends, they're a good support base, in terms of emotional espouse…but in tactical terms…"

"Oh man, Noel, will you quit trying to act like Alexander the Great and arrange everything like it's a battle strategy? Life doesn't act like war." Cyborg groaned. If there was one thing he didn't much like about Noel's thinking process, it was this.

"Look Victor, I wouldn't be thinking like this if it wasn't necessary. But it could be a factor. Especially Sam. She's a nice girl, and intelligent…but she's also the kind of misguided idealist who could get Danny killed. I don't want her giving Danny the impression that he could fix this problem by giving Sizzle a hug."

"She's not a dunce." Raven pointed out.

"You don't have to be. But the way people like her think, they say extreme force should be used as a last resort, and by last resort they mean never. And I'm afraid that's looking more and more like a possibility here. We can't lock up Sizzle, we can't rehabilitate her, and we sure as hell can't kill her because she's already dead. We might have to destroy her. And Danny might be called upon to do that. And I don't want him thinking he can reason with the barbarians, because you can't. Sometimes you have to stand up and fight back, or else they'll be slitting your throat, raping your wives, and eating your children. We all know Sizzle will do that. Danny needs to know that too. This is a situation where innocence is a liability."

Silence.

"Well, hopefully it won't come to that. Now…what about weapons?"

"I outfitted my body specially before we left to absorb more heat." Cyborg said, knocking a fist on his right shoulder. "And if push comes to shove, I've got even more ommphh waiting to go."

"I grabbed the freeze guns from the evidence rooms." Starfire said.

"Victor Fries' or Leonard Snart's?" Savior asked.

"Both."

"Good. Those guns will even turn fireballs into ice, and they might even slow Sizzle down…for a few seconds anyway." Savior said. "Raven, you have any anti-flame spells you can whip up?"

"I can make a few charms, but they won't do much if Sizzle is manifesting enough power to blow up buildings and do an impression of Mount Saint Helens." Raven said.

"Make them anyway. I don't plan on standing still for her to hit me with any big things anyway." Savior said. "Ok, sounds like we're set for now. Raven, start with the charms, Cyborg, start unloading the gear from the T-Ship and getting it all in ready. The holo-pins too. Starfire, would you mind flying Danny home? He might be too tired to do it himself."

"Certainly."

"Ok. I'll call Robin and give him a heads up. We'll meet back here in about an hour." Savior said.

The Titans left the room, leaving only Savior, who pulled out his communicator, opened it up, and started dialing.

Then he paused, and then he snapped the communicator shut.

"How long have you been standing there?"

"All of it." Sam said from the doorway. Savior rolled his eyes, and then he turned around.

"I'm not making an apologies for my assessments. I've done this for a while and I usually know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah, the way your kind always do, even I, a 'misguided idealist' would know that." Sam said as she walked in. "You know, I didn't think you had Danny's best interests at heart, but I'll be damned if I let you manipulate him like a puppet."

"And you don't think that might be what's best for this problem?" Savior replied.

"Oh of course not! Your breed always knows best! Just shut up and listen to Daddy, because he always has your interests at heart!"

"Quit the blue meanie shadow conspiracy crap. It's not becoming. A lady with your degree of intelligence should know better."

"Oh, but I don't, because after all, I'm a 'misguided idealist'." Sam said, now finally starting to get angry. "I say that's a lot better then the neo-conservative fascism you think will be for the best for everyone, including Danny."

"Oh, that's just fitting. It's never a conservative; it's always a NEO-conservative, thumping the bible and telling everyone that you better obey God or he'll punish you. I'm not a neo-con. I don't believe the world was created 6,000 years ago, I don't think abortion is the greatest evil of the 20th century, and I don't love guns as much as I hate gays. But I am a conservative, and I consider that to be best, because I know where to draw a line. Those so called neo-cons just make things worse where they do exist, because they draw too narrow a line, but I consider my style of thinking better then yours, because you don't know how to draw a line at all!"

"This isn't about political philosophies. This is about the problem that, as you said, YOU created. That doesn't give you an excuse to push Danny around. You should be ashamed."

"Shame doesn't enter into these things young lady. It's what has to be done. And if you want your boyfriend…"

"He's NOT my boyfriend."

"Sure, keep telling yourself that. If you want Danny to survive, it would be best if he listens to me, because I've dealt with Sizzles before."

"Oh sure. Your track record with homicidal lunatics with immense power is great. The Final Night worked out perfectly."

Savior grimaced.

"That was a LOW blow." He muttered.

"And you're telling me you didn't earn it?"

Savior ground his teeth. He knew this was stupid, he shouldn't be arguing with Danny's not-a-girlfriend Sam, but at the same time she really rubbed him the wrong way, and worse, she was going to mess up his plans, and he wasn't going to tolerate that because he'd had enough of death on the LAST mission he was leader of and he wasn't going to have another three digit or even two digit body count if he had to tie up Sam and stick her in the attic until this was all done.

"Let me tell you something about earning things, young lady." Savior said, his voice now edged with a smidgeon of danger. "Sometimes you need to take the simple way no one else wants to think of or do for whatever reason they have. When Alexander the Great came to Egypt, they presented him with a Gordian knot, a truly fiendish piece of rope work, and they said whoever untied it would rule Asia. Alexander drew his sword and chopped the knot in half."

"So?"

"So you can sit there and work on the knot all you want, and you might even be judged better then me for it when history does so, but I'm doing what I think is best here, and that is one swift downward stroke."

Savior turned away.

"If you want we'll leave your house, but you are not messing this up young lady. I won't accept it." Savior said, leaving the room.

Sam crossed her arms and frowned deeply.

"You may think you know all the answers Savior, but just because I'm an idealist doesn't mean I'm misguided." Sam said. "I see what you're doing. You're trying to make a complicated situation simple. And you should know darn well what happens when you try and do that. Life is fickle that way, and when you try and mess with it, karma can dump a load of junk in your lap and make the problem even worse."

* * *

And far away, a man in a dark suit and white hair pulled himself back from the crystal he was watching, the crystal that he had been watching for a while, which showed a blurry image of Sam as she turned and left the room as well, leaving the scene empty, as it faded from the crystal's form. 

"How true that is, young miss." Vlad Masters said. "And I think it's about time for karma to unload."


	6. In Flagrante Ira: Scenes From The Class

Chapter 6: Scenes From The Class Struggle In Amity Park

"Detested sport,  
The owes its pleasures to another's pain."

-Cowper, _The Task_, III

All things considered, the day began a lot better then Danny had been expecting.

Because after what had happened yesterday, Danny expected to wake up feeling like he had been run over by a herd of buffalo, or maybe a squad of Sherman tanks. It is during sleep that a body truly assesses the damage that has been done it during strenuous actions, and it will give the mind a full report when it wakes up, and it was usually a report that wasn't very favorable, if it was favorable at all.

So it was much to Danny's surprise that when he woke up, all he felt was refreshed. Quite a bit so. He stood up, looking at his arms and hands and expecting his muscles to start complaining at any second.

But they never did. They didn't complain during his shower either. Nor when he was getting dressed. By then Danny was getting damn suspicious, and at that point he decided to throw caution to the wind. A bright flash and a pair of energy circles later, and Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom, and he expected to be hit with the pain and exhaustion like a sledgehammer…

Which never fell.

Danny blinked, and then looked down at his form. He wasn't surprised that his black outfit looked pristine and new again: something had happened to the clothing during the accident that had made him who he was and it was no longer so much a piece of attire then it was a part of him. But the rather painful injuries he had suffered yesterday were gone. True, his ghost form didn't feel like running a marathon, but it seemed to have gotten itself back into fighting shape. At a speed far higher then Danny was used to.

"Danny!"

Danny was barely able to transform back before his door opened and his mother poked her head in.

"Good morning sleepyhead!"

"Ah! Hi mom." Danny said sheepishly, acting like he had just been gotten caught doing something else, something you can't really mention in a cartoon like this.

"You better hurry honey, or you'll be late for school."

"Yeah I…WHAT?" Danny yelled as his mother's head disappeared. He quickly followed her out.

"Did you say school?"

"Yes Danny."

"Um, Mom, forgive me if I just had an extremely vivid nightmare or something…but didn't half the school get trashed yesterday?"

"No dear, that really happened. Believe me, I was just as shocked as you were when the call came in that you had to come to school, and I gave the person on the other end a piece of my mind, but in the end they made me realize the good things behind it."

"But…walls were blown up! There are holes in the roof! Some of the hallways…"

"Yes Danny, but about half of the school escaped any serious damage. You'll be going to that half. Relax. It's a Friday, the weather says it's going to be lovely, and I doubt that you'll have any serious classes. This school day is more of a stand against the notion that the American education system is terrible, that a school will go on just for another day even after this…the man who called was quite eloquent about it, even though his constant stating of famous book titles when he was excited was a bit off putting."

Of course. Danny realized. Lancer. It figured he'd go to the superhuman effort to keep the students in school. Well, it WAS a Friday. After this would be the weekend, and by this time Monday they'd probably have relocated the students to other places until the school could be repaired…however long that took. Danny winced at the inconvenience of it all.

"Morning Danny!" Jack Fenton said at the breakfast table. If Danny had known that his mom and dad had been up all night working and were still hopped up and ready to go, he might have respected their devotion to ghost hunting a little more. As it was, Danny just groaned inwardly, knowing now that his father would want his full report.

"Danny, listen, I know yesterday was hard, but…"

"I know Dad." Danny said, and gave a greatly altered version of what had happened yesterday, which reduced his role from "hero who had kept Sizzle from killing anyone" to "idiot who ran around screaming and barely kept from getting killed". Jack Fenton bought it all though. Like Savior had said, his perception was that way.

"Well Danny…they say lightning never strikes the same place twice…but then again, this is fire we're talking about." Jack said, as he reached down and pulled up something from the floor: another Fenton Thermos. This one was slightly larger then the previous ones and tinted red. "So if that ghost warrior shows up, hopefully because it knows you have good gear, and heaven forfend if that psycho fire ghost has made her presence known first to take another crack at your school, give him this. Unlike the last Thermos, this WILL hold that fire ghost."

"For how long?"

"I'm not sure. Should be long enough to do whatever that white haired ghost does." Jack replied. Danny groaned inwardly again. "But make sure he uses it! With what happened to my lab I could only make one of those! If it's damaged or lost, it will take a month for new materials to arrive so I can make another one." Jack said.

Another thing to worry about. Danny wondered if it was possible to get gray hairs before one had started shaving.

"And since the Ghost Incapacitator prototype was destroyed, I managed to whip this up as well." Jack said, as he pulled up a long silver rod.

"A cattle prod?" Danny asked.

"No no, this is a miniaturized version of the Fenton Ghost Catcher! If you zap a host body with it, it will separate the ghost from it. But I warn you, I had to lessen the power to get it to fit into such a small object. If the Ghost is stubborn, and this one probably is, you may have to give it multiple zaps to get it out. The good news is that even one zap will scramble the link between ghost and host and screw up any real countermeasures the ghost tries. The bad news is you have to get right up close to use it."

"Right. Thanks dad." Danny said, accepting the mini Fenton Ghost Catcher, not able to tell his father that if he had to get that close, he might as just overshadow the host and pull Sizzle out himself…but hey, you never knew.

"Danny…I know yesterday was bad…but you have to be ready in case it happens again. But you're my boy. I know that any ghost that wants to hurt you will have its work cut out for him!" Jack said, clamping his hand on Danny's shoulder

"Uh…yeah…" Danny said, and finally buried himself in his breakfast. Jack Fenton seemed to take the hint and began reading the paper. The front page was all about what had happened yesterday, of course. Through subtle glances as his father turned the pages, Danny noticed there was nothing about Valerie in there. That was good, he supposed. She had been taken to the hospital after Sizzle had been forced out of her body, and on top of a lot of people seeing Sizzle coming out of her, Savior had said, just before Starfire had carried his once again dozing off self home, that he and his team was going to go down to the police station and talk to the chief to make sure Valerie didn't get charged with anything. And since Danny hadn't heard anything about Valerie suffering any real injuries, Danny figured she'd soon be back to plague his life. Once again, he groaned inwardly, but then AGAIN, after Sizzle, maybe she wouldn't be so bad.

Fifteen minutes later Danny was off to what was left of Casper High. Jazz was still home confined due to her parent's insistence she stay there, to make sure she hadn't caught some kind of ghost germ or something. He envied her.

And he might have more if he knew the second he was out of the house Maddie was in the kitchen.

"Did you manage to plant it?" She asked.

"My fingers can still do some nimble things." Jack replied. "If that ghost comes anywhere NEAR my son, that tracker will let me know, and if it does, it will find that we're ready, and that for what it did, there's going to be heck to pay."

Famous last words.

* * *

Danny could hear the work a full block away from the building. 

And it got even louder when he approached the school and found all the students milling around the front, as if waiting for something. The sounds of drilling, hammering, and general construction work were everywhere as men came and went from the damaged parts of Casper High.

"Danny!"

It was Sam, Tucker in tow. They'd had been watching from across the street for Danny, and had quickly headed for him when he had arrived.

"Can you believe this? Who the heck would be so stupid to want the school open after what happened yesterday?" Tucker said after the three had exchanged quick greetings. "I mean, no one should be that lacking a brain!"

"ATTENTION STUDENTS!" Came a bellow from the front of the school. No, not a bellow, an amplified voice spoken through a loudspeaker. It was, of course, Mr. Lancer.

"I stand corrected." Tucker said.

"Now listen…parts of the school have been roped off, you are NOT to enter those parts, for ANY reason. If you get hurt, the school is not responsible!" Mr. Lancer was saying. "Now, I must warn you there is only one working bathroom, so if anyone wants to use the facilities they had best do it now, DON'T STAMPEDE!" Mr. Lancer yelled as a wave of students broke away from the main group. "Ok now listen, I know you don't like the fact that you're here, but I assure you that it won't be for long. You will receive word by Monday on where you will be going until the repairs are completed, but until then, here is where everyone will be during this day…"

"Sigh. Don't you love someone who insists on locking the gate after the horse has already run off?" Came a voice behind Danny, Sam, and Tucker, and the three jumped and then turned around.

They sure didn't recognize who was standing there: it was a black girl with corn rowed hair, polished features, and wearing highly stylized clothes. The three stared, Tucker barely holding back his flood of drool.

"Do we know you miss?" Sam asked

The black girl glanced around.

"Yes." She said, and then the black girl suddenly vanished, revealing Raven in her battle costume. And then the black girl was suddenly back, as the three gaped.

"Holopins. We're all disguised as students here so we can shadow you Danny. So if you see someone you don't know watching you, it's one of us. And your ghost sense should kick in if Sizzle decides to try the same trick, right Danny?"

"Uh, yeah." Danny said, amazed at how different Raven looked with the holopin on.

"One of us will probably be with you at all times, the rest will be nearby. We agreed that if we can't see you react if Sizzle shows up, that you should do a gesture. So if she does, grab the top of your head, so we can get you and any innocents clear before the fires start. Ok?"

Danny nodded.

"Holopin? Don't you mean image inducers?" Tucker asked. Raven glared at him.

"Shhhhh! You want to get sued?" She said tersely.

"Sorry." Tucker replied.

"That's quite a disguise there." Sam commented.

"Savior believes that if we can hide our appearance, we should do more then just change our hair and skin color." Raven replies. "So like I said, we'll be watching you. So just go about your business Danny, and don't worry. Despite certain disagreements…" Raven said, glancing at Sam, who frowned. "You're one of us, and we protect our own. Especially from Sizzle's breed." Raven said, and then she walked off.

"What was that about?" Tucker asked.

"Oh nothing." Sam said. _Except the leader of this group is an A-Class jerk who wants to treat this situation like a chess game, with Danny as his pawn._

In the end though, Sam said nothing.

* * *

While the group was called the Teen Titans, the ironic thing is that none of the four Titans that had arrived in Amity Park to help Danny had ever really gone to a normal high school. Starfire and Raven had been raised in different places other then Earth (an alien planet and another dimension respectively), and Cyborg and Savior were the sons of very rich men and hence had been mostly home schooled. It was true Cyborg had had some experience in a high school, and had actually been fairly happy before the accident that had killed his mother and injured him so badly that it had been necessary to transform his form to the state it was now, but it wasn't much. And Noel's father…well, he wouldn't have let Noel near a normal high school. Not considering his plans for his son, and those were another story, a very ugly one. Let's just say if you don't believe in the existence of evil…you've got a lot to learn… 

But getting back on track, none of the Titans had ever been to a real high school, but they knew plenty about the pit of man and woman eaters that existed in such a place. Mostly because they'd had problems with kids who had been destroyed by the nest of vipers the average school could be, and sometimes when those ruined kids turned around and struck back it got messy. REALLY messy. Perhaps the worst case had been that of Marissa Mori, who had gone a tad bit nuts and caused a bloodbath…but again, that is another, uglier tale.

So you can't blame the Titans if they thought they had some level of preparation.

Oh how wrong they were.

The school day was pretty weird: there weren't enough classrooms, so the teachers were teaching in the gym, the cafeteria, and outside, and rather then actually teaching, most of the teachers were acting as consolers, mostly talking about what had happened yesterday and trying to see if anyone was having any problems. That wasn't so bad…

What was bad, or maybe more accurately, sad, was that despite having their school turned into one of the circles of hell, some of the students STILL hadn't gotten a clue on how to act like decent human beings. Indeed, in one of Danny's classes, where he was being watched over by Cyborg, who had disguised himself as a white jock, almost to the level of a Dash clone, there had been the unpleasant incident of one girl's tearful confession that her boyfriend had been badly burned and might need skin grafts his family couldn't afford. The girl, barely keeping from breaking down and crying, had actually drawn some snickers from, surprise surprise, Dash and his ilk. Danny couldn't believe that Dash would actually be amused by the girl's unhappiness…until he realized that she was from a poorer section of town and had somewhat of an acne problem. In Dash's group, that meant scorn and contempt, no matter WHAT had happened. Danny spent the rest of that class thinking dark thoughts about Dash, dark thoughts that were mirrored in Cyborg's face as he seethed at the unrepentant cruelty of the popular kids. Cyborg made a mental note to learn the boy's name and get on the horn to Robin, who would pass a message onto Batman, who Cyborg didn't know was Bruce Wayne but knew was rich and did a lot of charity work from what he had gathered from Robin. Batman would then point some of that charity in Amity Park's direction.

Those kind of incidents, as well as the Sword of Damascus Sizzle's threat presented, didn't make for a happy morning for the Titans or Danny and Co. Danny also ran into Starfire, who was actually disguised as her teammate Terra, a normal looking blonde girl. Savior didn't introduce himself, and Danny couldn't be sure who he was: he'd had half a dozen inklings but none had seemed to bear fruit.

Eventually, lunch came, as the teachers returned the cafeteria to its normal job and all the students took in the meal. Not a lot of them were in the actual cafeteria though: it was still banged up a bit from Danny's actions. Most took their lunch outside…though Danny, his friends, and the Titans did not. After lunch, there was one last "class" scheduled and then the students could go home early.

"So, you sense anything Danny?" Raven asked at the table the six were sitting at: Savior was again a no-show. When Sam had inquired about that, Raven had replied he was overseeing everything and hence might not approach Danny at all…unless there was a problem.

"No, and believe me, Sizzle has a VERY distinct presence." Danny commented, and tried to eat his sandwich. It tasted like oatmeal to him, but that was probably just the stress.

"So…does anyone have anything to report?" Tucker asked.

"Only that I now weep for the human race even more then I NORMALLY do." Raven said dismally. "We were doing one of those "do you want to discuss your feelings" things, and one of the girls actually spent TWENTY MINUTES talking about how her makeup was ruined. That was it. She wasn't hurt, her friends weren't hurt, even her PROPERTY was undamaged…but she went on like it was a Greek tragedy, and when the teacher tried to stop her she just talked louder and acted like no one was there. She only stopped when she was done. I swear, I never saw such a display of superficial ignorance in my life, outside of maybe that white supremist group we dealt with once."

"Was she Hispanic?" Sam asked.

"Yeah."

"Paulina." Sam said, resigned again. "A girl so shallow she's somehow deep."

"So of course, Danny has a huge crush on her." Tucker commented. Danny blushed, and Sam looked irritated.

"You like this Paulina?" Starfire asked. Starfire had done Savior's good disguise mandate one better: on top of her concealing hologram she was wearing a necklace that distorted her voice so she sounded like a Valley Girl. And hearing a typical Valley Girl talk without using the usual Valley Girl English mangling was actually extremely disorienting.

"Well uh…you see…" Danny said, blushing.

"Buddy…" Cyborg began.

"What, she's out of my league?"

"No. You're out of hers." Starfire commented. "I do not usually give humans advice Danny, as I was raised in a very different culture then yours and even now I tend to get things wrong more often then not…but I think she would be a bad match for you, not because of fictional class systems, but as, you humans might say, she would be a terrible lay."

"WHAT!" Danny said, his face feeling like it was on fire…which probably wasn't a healthy omen considering the force that was stalking him.

"Don't act so puritanical. You're a teenage boy. Sex is what almost everything is about for you. Looking at linoleum makes you want to have sex." Raven said dryly, which somehow made Danny blush even more.

"What Raven said is true…girls like Paulina are so self-centered that they are terrible in bed. They're so concerned with their own needs and their so called perfection that they have no idea how to satisfy you, or will they care to because in their worldview it's all about them. They will tease but they will never please. I suggest you stop this mooning and focus your energies into finding someone who is "lower on the ladder", because while they might not seem like some kind of dream achieved like dating and being with a girl like Paulina, you will ultimately be a LOT happier in the long run. Trust me. On Tamaran, our royal and high state marriages, which are almost always between Tamaran's best and brightest, are rarely happy due to that very factor, while many lower ones with men and women who possess slight, mild, or considerable blemishes are filled with more joy then you could believe. I suggest you, as the saying goes, aim lower. Because that's where your happiness will most likely lie." Starfire said.

The alien girl had never quite mastered the art of tact, as she then grinned broadly.

"If you ask me, I think Sam would be a great match for you!"

"WHAT?" The two immediately said, and Tucker snickered quietly to himself as he saw this game was about to enter its latest round.

"Hey, what Starfire says is true. You've known each other your whole lives, so you know each other's flaws and special qualities, and you're good friends now, and that's ultimately the most important thing about a relationship because lifelong romances ultimately end up being close friendships…" Cyborg said.

"Ok, enough! Jeez!" Sam said, blushing furiously. "We don't have those kinds of feelings for each other! So stop trying to hook us up!"

"Yeah! I mean, sheesh, I think I would know what to do if I had feelings for…uh…er…" Danny stammered, and then just trailed off.

Raven smiled to herself. She thought the two would have handsome kids. Which made her wonder: she'd been with Noel for a long time now, and her father still seemed to be dead. Maybe she should wonder if he should be gathering up two month's salary…except the Titans didn't get paid…except they had a money fund that they used to pay their bills…

And these little outward and inward thoughts on relationships were interrupted as all heck broke lose.

But not the kind the Titans and Danny had been expecting.

Then again, maybe they should have.

* * *

Savior didn't, on the surface, want trouble. He'd just bought one of the school's lunches, and had picked out a table that gave him a good view of Danny and his fellows. 

Then again, UNDER the surface, Savior was probably just begging for it. It all began with his Holopin disguise: a straight out of a bad movie nerd, complete with glasses, bad hair, and a pocket protector. At least he wasn't wearing suspenders.

The second was his own witnessing of the usual "elite" nonsense, as he had seen one of his "fellows" stuffed in a locker and another being chased down the hall by a group of boys who were chanting "Wedgie!". That fellow escaped, thanks to a sudden rope that zipped in front of the pursuer's ankles and made them all tumble in a heap. Some inquiries on why this was going on revealed that one of the people who had been fairly badly hurt was a jock named Kwan, who was in stable condition now but would be healing for a bit. Apparently, the jocks were worried about their friend…and in true unwilling idiocy fashion, they manifested it by pushing around their usual targets even more. Savior apparently managed to stay in enough of the right places during the right times to not become the target of any of such indignities…but deep down, he probably wanted to.

As he happened to sit at the table that was reserved for the most popular kids.

Savior gave Danny and his friends a long look as he starting gnawing on a carrot stick, and then turned to look at several VERY surprised popular kids, which of course included the king and queen of Casper High, Dash Baxter and Paulina Noapparentlastname. And can you blame their shock? The whole school knew that to sit at their table was to court death, or at least the combined wrath of Dash and his jock allies, or if you were a girl, the nastiest claws that Paulina and her breed could bring to bear. So you can't blame them at being immensely surprised that a thin, bespectacled geek had actually sat at their table. To them, it was like he had spat in their food.

Then again, when it came to truly classifying the worth of their fellows, they were pretty much all idiots, so take their offense with a grain of salt. Actually, a saltshaker would probably be better. Or maybe one of those boxes of salt people buy that…moving on.

"Hello." Savior said casually, and resumed looking at his team.

The popular kid's silence lasted another few seconds before Dash finally collected his sole remaining wit.

"Hey! What are you doing here!" He yelled.

"Sitting and eating." Savior calmly replied, and picked up a limp looking celery stick, wondering how long it had sat in that display case.

"What?" Dash yelled.

"Oh no. I'll bet anything that's Savior." Danny said.

"You are correct sir." Cyborg replied.

"Maybe you should go over there before Dash attempts to kill him for his unpardonable faux pas." Sam commented.

"If Dash attempts to kill Savior, he had better have a lot of blood, because he's going to lose some." Starfire replied.

"Hey geek! What are you doing! This is OUR table! NO ONE SITS HERE BUT US!" Dash yelled.

"Do you know who we ARE?" Paulina hissed in the anger of the people who have had their whims catered to their entire life and think anything that does not fit their view of the world should be stomped on for daring to show them reality.

"Things change, and no." Savior said simply, and bit into the celery stick. It had more moisture then he expected.

Dash goggled at the fact that the geek wasn't running for his life, begging for mercy, or even apologizing for sitting at their table like he was somebody. Then again, Dash didn't know he was looking at Savior, who had locked eyes with gods and monsters and humans at the pinnacle of their potential and form. And after all that, he wasn't going to give any ground to a jock blowhard, not even in microscopic terms.

"Ok loser, you asked for it." Dash said, as he started around the table.

"Sit down. Talk to me. Resorting to violence towards someone after a five second assessment of them is the mark of a mediocre mind, but then again you probably demonstrate that in spades all the time." Savior commented.

Dash's eyes blazed.

"WHAT?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Was I speaking too fast for you? Ok. Siiiiiittttttt dooooowwwwwwnnnnn…" Savior began, his patience already exhausted. Now he was prepared to take Dash's measure, and if Dash wanted to play whose can of whoop ass was bigger, he was going to get a rude awakening.

Dash went for Savior's food first, grabbing the tray and shoving it violently to the side and onto the floor. Savior's eyes flicked briefly to follow the movement, and then went back onto Dash's angry face.

"Oh no. My government sponsored meal of gray stuff and something that might have been an animal once. However will I cope?"

"Get up geek!" Dash said, grabbing Savior's shirt front (his few remaining brain cells not noticing the feel of his clothing didn't match up to his appearance, as Savior was wearing his battle outfit of jeans, shirt, and leather jacket in reality, and anyone who grabbed those would have noticed the feeling didn't feel quite right, because the clothing Savior wore wasn't clothing but highly developed armor disguised as clothing. Savior's shirt could stop most high caliber bullets at close range) and yanking him up from his seat. Savior let him have that motion to gauge Dash's strength, as he pulled himself out of Dash's grip before Dash could start punching.

"Fight fight fight! Fight fight fight!" The students immediately chanted, gathering around to watch and block the teachers from being able to break up any brawls for a few minutes (not that most of them expected anything, as when guys fought it was mostly all show and no blows. Girls, surprisingly, fought FAR fiercer then guys when they actually resorted to physical contact, and would think of nothing of actually trying to claw out an eye or inflict serious physical damage.) Raven rolled her eyes and wondered if she should warp over before Dash said something that made Noel lose his temper.

"I hope you like your dentist nerd, because I'm going to make him rich!" Dash yelled, and snapped off a blow. Savior, who trained at least five hours a week with Robin, who was an accomplished master of nearly six different martial arts, could have dodged the blow in his sleep. So he did.

"Hey! Don't be running away wimp!" Dash yelled.

"Oh my dear Australopithecus Africanus, if I am a wimp, why am I taking the path of most resistance?"

"That's it! I'm going to beat you so bad, your mother will cry!" Dash snarled, and snapped off a straight jab.

Savior caught it.

"You really shouldn't have mentioned my mother."

With a series of motions so quick most of the students couldn't even make them out, Savior twisted Dash's arm and pried open his fist, and then with a sickening snapping noise, dislocated Dash's little finger. Dash's eyes nearly bulged out of his head, and then he screamed at the sudden pain.

"That was your pinkie."

Another twist, another snap, another scream.

"That was your wrist."

Savior did a body tuck and hurled Dash to the ground, seizing his arm up behind him, and giving him one final, violent twist. Dash screamed in agony this time, even as the students went dead silent as this took a turn none of them could have expected.

"And that was your shoulder." Savior said calmly. "I can still dislocate your elbow. Would you like to go four for four, you empty-headed, mean-souled shit spewing sanctimonious son of a BITCH?"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Was Dash's only reply as Savior jiggled his arm, ever so slightly. His eyes caught movement, and he noticed some of Dash's jock friends were moving in tentatively to help.

"Anyone comes a step closer, I rip his arm right out of its socket." Savior said in a calm tone. That stopped all movement. Savior leaned down to the agonizing football star.

"Now apologize for sullying my mother's name, unless you want to spend the rest of your life eating food through a tube."

"Uhhhhhhhhh…" Dash moaned, any rational thought he had stolen by his pain.

"APOLOGIZE!" Savior yelled, letting his rage flow through as he gave Dash's arm a slight jerk, causing another distressed scream. "You have done something much more powerful men then you have not survived kid. I WILL not hesitate to put you on a ventilator."

Which of course was a total lie: Savior might deal out some pain, even a great deal of it, but he wouldn't cripple unless he absolutely had to. But as mentioned, he worshiped Batman, and he learned his intimidation tactics from the best.

"I'm sorry…!" Dash whined/cried/screamed. In the back of his head, Savior could make out voices from the far perimeter, of that teacher Danny and his friends called Lancer. He better hurry it up.

"You know, if having your life put in deadly danger doesn't break you out of this little abyss of sadism and holier then thou bullshit you and your little bootlickers have going and believing, I doubt anything will. But I'll leave you with three things. One." Savior said, and then snapped Dash's finger back in. That hurt almost as much as dislocating it had, if Dash's cry was any indication.

"This pain I am giving to you, the only thing you seem to understand, it will fade eventually. It will heal. But what you do to people in the visage I wear, and others…the pain doesn't go away. It stays in a place that won't heal so easily. Sometimes it can't heal at all. And then it becomes something else entirely Dash. Something BAD. So you better watch what seeds you're planting kid. They're starting to bloom, and this fruit of a poisoned tree is starting to cause Columbines." Savior said quietly, and then fixed Dash's wrist, fixed being a very loose term as Dash screamed again.

"Two…better enjoy this time. It will be the best years of your life. Reality is going to intrude soon Dash, and it's going to be one hell of a wrecking ball. It's all downhill from here. Cherish this. It's the best your worthless kind gets. At least if I have anything to do with it. And THREE…"

Savior snapped Dash's shoulder back in. If you want to give Dash any credit, it was the fact that he had a strong enough constitution that he didn't pass out from the pain. But it's doubtful he found that much of a blessing. By now, Lancer thought that someone was being tortured. And I suppose he was accurate.

"Your stats REALLY suck." Savior said, referring to Dash's football "accomplishments". He pulled himself up from where Dash was now lying, clutching his arm, and he looked around at the shocked students, who couldn't believe they had just witnessed the physical and mental dissection of their so called lord and master.

"You know…" Savior said, as he ran a hand through his fake hair. "The phrase is that the meek will inherit the Earth. SO DON'T PISS US OFF."

Lancer and some other teachers were almost there by then, as Savior headed for the opposite side. The students got out of his way like he was a mad bull, as Savior walked through and left the cafeteria.

Raven just shook her head, and then she sank into the darkness, much to Danny, Tucker, and Sam's startled reaction: they hadn't yet witnessed her teleportation power.

"Uh oh. Savior's in for it now." Cyborg said, and sipped at his soft drink.

"I'm ok. I'M OK!" Dash snarled as people tried to help him up. As mentioned, the pain, and the weak state it had put him in, was already fading away, leaving Dash with only the rage and humiliation of the exposed. "That was nothing! I was just…faking it! Now I'm going to…"

And then Dash took a step.

And stepped on the tray of food Savior had tried to eat before Dash had given it an up close and personal meeting with the floor.

Which caused his leg to slide right out from under him as he fell back down to the ground with a yell, even as his foot caught ever so slightly on the tray and flung it into the air…and splattered what was left of it's contents all over a shocked Paulina, who had watched what Savior had done to Dash much like a normal person would have watched aliens land.

That did it: the entire student body erupted into laughter, the fear that had awoken at Savior's dangerous actions a few seconds beforehand already forgotten as the students rejoiced in the rare revelation that the so called great and good of their school were no better then them. Dash screamed at them to shut up, but he couldn't beat up and intimidate the whole school, and since EVERYONE was laughing, there wasn't anyone who he could single out and seek revenge on later. Paulina's shock at the mess that now covered her, and then her horrified scream and own running off just made the laughter increase, even as the students began to break up to head back to what they were doing before this little spectacle.

Lancer was left standing in the mass that a moment ago appeared to be seeing something from the Viet Cong's interrogation books and now were acting like they had seen a best of the Marx Brother's marathon.

"To Kill a Mockingbird! What is going ON around here?" He asked.

"So, Savior always this brutally sadistic, in the end proving he's really not if much better then Dash?" Sam commented.

"Actually…" Starfire said. "That boy got off easy. Savior's main nemesis, Jack Djinn, has pushed Savior into places far worse then that, and the end result has been Savior presiding over the removal of Jack's hands and his right eye."

"He also broke his back." Cyborg added.

"Twice." Starfire finished.

Once again, Sam found she had nothing to say.

* * *

"That blasted gosh-darned nerd! How did…AHHHRRGGHHH!" Paulina screamed in frustration from the girl's washroom, a moment before she scooped hot water on her face before pulling back to look at her clothes. "My outfit! I got this on special! Daddy won't let me max out another credit card! OHHHHHHHH!" Paulina cursed, strangely sounding like Yosemite Sam from the Loony Toons. Dark thoughts rolled through her head, though she had considerably less righteousness in the grand scheme of things then Cyborg and Savior had. 

Every other girl had promptly cleared out when Paulina had stormed into the bathroom, not wanting to be anywhere near the girl when she threw her fit. Good thing: her makeup was ruined again and she would be damned if any student got even a slight giggle from her looks. Good thing she always carried a complete kit for touchups, or in this case, complete do-overs, and she got to work. When she was done, she was going to go back out, put on her pretty face, and bid her time a bit…and then she was going to disembowel the person who had done this to her. And she might do the same to Dash as well for failing so badly in what should have been a simple reminder that every other person should grovel and scrape before her and she should be allowed to treat the losers like they deserved to be treated.

"Ohhhhh Paulina, I'm the best, no one ever says no to me, I've gotten nerd's underwear over their heads, I am so great, we'll always be the best, ohhhhhh…you muscle-headed dunderhead!" Paulina cursed to herself, mimicking Dash in her anger towards what had happened. "Well Dash, you have lost your date to the next dance, for the next DECADE. You lousy…" Paulina snapped as she leaned in to make careful adjustments to her mascara: there was a fine line between glamorous and a painted up lady of the night, and Paulina was NEVER going to cross that line. Never. "You know, if they're not acting like they're god's gift to the planet and trying to touch the no-no places, they're failing miserably on every front they claim they hold with ease! Argh! Men! I have half a mind to give up on them entirely from now on!"

Paulina pulled herself back from her extreme close up against the mirror.

And found to her great shock and horror she was no longer alone in the room. There was someone new behind her, now apparent in the mirror…and it wasn't a fellow student.

Paulina spun around.

Sizzle smiled.

"Oh yeah, you and I are going to get along just fine."


	7. In Flagrante Ira: Fever Pitch

Chapter 7: Fever Pitch

"A fire is nourished by its own ashes."

-Proverbs

Raven caught up with Savior in the hallway, which was completely empty: as mentioned, virtually all the students were either in the cafeteria or outside. He was leaning against a locker and had just finished removing something from inside his jacket (which, due to the hologram, made it look like he was pulling it straight through his shirt) when Raven stepped out of the shadows.

"Good afternoon my dear lady." Savior said.

"It's funny how the person who insisted we craft such elaborate disguises to ensure a strong cover is so willing to make a scene in front of the entire school, whether or not the bully needed to be put in his place. If you're going to lead Noel, you have to be willing to follow your own orders."

"Maybe, but that was needed Raven. Those people are going to run our world. It might be best if they get the idea that they're just as human as the people they lord over."

"Savior, that was overdoing it."

"'The very first essential for success is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence.'" Savior replied.

"You're quoting Hitler. Ironic considering you just thrashed what would be a near picture perfect member of the so called Aryan race."

"Once you filter out the whole murdering amoral bastard and one of the most evil human beings in history stuff, he had a few good ideas. Shame all that homicidal dictator stuff got in the way." Savior said. "Besides, I didn't blow our cover. Savior didn't beat up that stupid moron, some unnamed nerd did. And he's going to become a small school legend…"

Savior's skin suddenly went from Caucasian to Oriental, as his features altered, his hair changed color, and his clothes went from Nerd Classic To Nerd Chic. He also shrank about two inches.

"Because he will never be seen again." Savior said, putting back the holopin after he had adjusted his appearance. Raven just shook her head.

"I know you're not fond of bullies, but if we have to follow Danny around for a while, try to keep this to a minimum."

"As you wish m'lady." Savior said, taking Raven's hand and kissing it. Even now, after a few years together, that made her blush slightly, though it didn't show up much on her dark false skin.

"Really Noel. It's a thin line between being righteous and being the enemy. You spoke to Danny about this, and we've had these kinds of issues before. Be careful what you choose to do…because it's funny what gets into one's blood at times." Raven said, and then she glanced around to make sure no one was around, and then she vanished into the shadows again.

Savior leaned against the wall a few more seconds, and then he looked at his hands, pondering what he had just done, for the reasons he had done it…and how it had felt deep down. A hard, if thoughtful look came over his face, as he thought about life, what it did to you, and how it could affect what you did.

"Yeah. Funny how it gets in the blood."

Savior retrieved his set of prop books and started walking down the hall, planning to make a quick circle of the school and then head back to keep an eye on Danny.

And then the girl he had helped humiliate came around the corner. Paulina, Savior believed her name was.

She didn't recognize him, for good reason, and Savior was as cool as a cucumber as he walked past her, acting just like another student then the one who had had a hand in gravely humiliating her. And it showed: intense determination was written all over her features as she walked past him. Savior walked on, wondering if he should start a…

Wait a minute…

Something didn't match. Savior stopped for a moment, pondered, and then it occurred to him.

Paulina's face was wrong. A girl of her status who had just suffered an incident like she had would be trying to hide it behind a newly applied coat of gloss, or if she was showing emotion, it would be the stormy emotional type that barely covered a screeching harpy fury that immature girls tended to resort to. She wouldn't have a look of intense determination that masked a clearly great deal of anger. No, that would be more fitting…

"………..OH SHIT." Savior said.

* * *

"All I'm saying is, if humans develop widespread teleportation technology like in _Star Trek_, it won't allow us to explore the cosmos, it will mean the end of the human race." Tucker was saying when Raven popped back in, after she had scouted the room from the shadows to make sure no one was looking. 

"But teleportation is very useful! Friend Raven here can attest." Starfire said.

"Yeah, maybe Starfire…but think about it. What would humans do if they got their hands on a beamer?"

"Get everywhere quickly?" Cyborg rhetorically ventured.

"More like get everything quickly. If I had a beamer, I'd abuse it to the level of authoritarianism. Anything I wanted, food, cars, supermodels, palm trees, I'd beam them straight to me. If I saw an attractive woman on television, I'd beam her into my lap. If people came to stop me, I'd beam them into space. My neighbors won't be able to acquire any nice furniture, because no sooner would they take it out of the boxes when it would be beamed away. My neighbors would eventually have to use milk crates for everything, and that would only be after I was sure I had all the milk crates I would ever need." Tucker said. His tone was clearly joking though.

"All right, you're right. The beaming device will be the last thing humanity ever invents." Sam commented.

"Actually, if we're talking about inventing real life Star Trek gadgets, I think the real last thing humanity would invent would be the holodeck. I knew if I had one as realistic as they had in the show, I'd never leave my room. I'd spend all my time getting hot oil massages from Lil' Kim and her twin sister."

"Lil' Kim doesn't have…OHHHHH." Tucker said, and he and Cyborg gestured at each other in the pointing way males do when they talk about stuff like that. Sam and Raven sighed, Danny was eating, and Starfire was oblivious.

And Danny was just finishing off the orange juice in his juice box when he exhaled and that burning sensation flowed out of his mouth, complete with a small misty cloud of red, and his eyes went as wide as saucers.

"It's HER. She's HERE." Danny said, barely keeping from screaming the words.

Sam, Raven, and Cyborg didn't really need the verbal warning: they'd seen the smoke and didn't need to be told twice what that meant. The Titans were up immediately, all of them scanning the room, forming a shield around Tucker and Sam, just in case.

"Where is she?" Raven asked Danny.

"I don't know!"

"I'm not reading any extreme heat sources." Cyborg said, craning towards the table so he could conceal the fact from any prying students that he had a metal gadget sticking right out of his arm.

"She's here! I know it!" Danny said, wondering if he should risk a scene by transforming now and telling everyone to run.

He never got the chance.

As Paulina walked back into the cafeteria.

And Raven got hit with a wave of vicious anger and hate so intense it was like a sledgehammer blow to her forehead, nearly knocking her over.

And Dash Baxter, who had been waiting near the door in the hopes that Paulina would come back so he could try spinning what had just happened and at least lessen the already inflicted damage, smirked to himself and put on his repentant face as he headed towards Paulina.

"Hey Paulina! I just thought…" He began…

And stopped when he saw the look of utter, absolute vehemence in Paulina's eyes. And though Dash didn't have the brains to understand what he was looking at, his deep seated primal instincts did, as they woke up and began screaming at him to run, because he was face to face with a violent nigh-force of nature, and it had targeted him for the first thing to be stepped on.

Dash, at the least, understood that what he was looking at wasn't Paulina.

At least before Sizzle raised her arm and fired off an intense fireball, a tightly concentrated blast of heat. She wasn't taking chances like last time with the sprinkler systems: when this ball struck her target, they were going to die right then and there.

It really was an intense heat, striking Dash's body and immediately vaporizing the top layer of skin before the furious heat virtually liquefied the rest of him, the flesh and muscle flying off the blackening bones like wax, the bones expanding and then breaking apart under the incredible power of Sizzle's fire.

Or at least that WOULD have been Dash's fate, as he saw the fireball coming and realized the rumors were true, that Valerie Grey HAD been possessed by some kind of evil, and it was back, it had possessed Paulina, and he was dead as he screamed and shut his eyes and saw his life flash before them…

Man, he sure spent a lot of time treating the losers badly. He though he'd balanced his life better…

And that was when he expected the pain and the end.

Which didn't come.

Dash waited a few seconds before he blinked open his eyes.

The first thing he saw was the shield, woven of white energy, laced in front of him, the shield that had spared his life, the shield coming from the figure that was right up close to him, as he had leapt over Sizzle just before she fired and blocked the blow, a figure dressed in white, whose face was screwed up in intense concentration at blocking the powerful blast, a face that turned intense eyes on Dash. But there was no anger or hate there. This wasn't the time.

"What are you waiting for?" Savior growled. "Run! RUN! OR YOU'LL BE WELL DONE!"

And it was about that time that Raven turned off her holopin disguise as she floated up. That got the student's attention, those that hadn't already noticed or seen Dash's near end by fireball.

"RUN!" she screamed.

The students didn't need to be told twice, as they all realized that danger was coming again and they might not escape it this time, as all the students broke for the exit. Once again, though, the students risked trampling each other as many forms all tried to get out of the same small door.

It was a good thing that Cyborg had gone outside a moment ago: that way he knew there was no one around on the OUTSIDE of said small door.

So he made the door bigger, as he transformed his arm into his sonic cannon and fired off two powerful blasts, blowing out the walls and scaring the living daylights out of all the students who were outside.

Dash was disappearing with them as Savior undid his shield and turned to face Sizzle, who had been standing there, confused, as she had no idea where that white blockade had come from but she could have sworn it looked familiar…

Until she saw Savior. Then she knew, as the hatred she had felt for Danny blazed up as she remembered.

"YOU!" she screamed.

"Hello bitch." Savior said, living so dangerously he was living safely. "Did you get me that sandwich I asked for?"

Savior wasn't an idiot: he knew the students had to be evacuated. So he wanted to focus Sizzle's attention on him. And he also wanted her so mad that she didn't try something like lighting a fire inside his heart.

It worked, as Sizzle's eyes erupted in flame, and she screamed and began firing more fireballs at Savior. The Shimmer sprang from Savior's arms, the sentient energy from his mutated nervous system ready, willing, and able to protect its host and protect anyone else the host commanded, and just in case he couldn't, Savior had worked out plans beforehand, as Raven turned towards her just about to be barraged and hopefully not incinerated boyfriend and raised her hands.

"Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!" she chanted, and a wall of solid black energy appeared behind Savior, a wall that would make sure any fireballs he couldn't block properly didn't hit any students.

As the assault commenced, as Savior rapidly cycled through shield and deflecting forms for the Shimmer, blocking some fireballs and knocking others away from him, specifically up and away from him, as they exploded through the roof and flew off into the sky, where they dissipated after a bit, even as Sizzle screamed again and poured on the heat.

* * *

Jack Fenton was sitting at the table and sipping a coffee while watching his daughter in the guise of listening to her to make sure she wasn't developing some kind of ghost disease when the specialized beeper went off in his suit pocket and he nearly spit his coffee in his daughter's face. 

"MADDIE! THAT GHOST IS THERE!" Jack yelled, leaping from his seat, the chair being knocked down and falling to the floor with a crash, but Jack could care less, because the ghost was near his son and he wasn't going to let it get away, or hurt Danny, or anything.

"I know! Let's roll!" Maddie Fenton said, leaving the dishwasher half filled as she ran from the kitchen, Jack following her as he snatched up the Fenton Ghost Finder, just in case. Jazz watched this with wide eyes, and then against her better judgment, she got up and followed.

Her parents didn't go downstairs or to the garage though: instead Jazz found one of the back doors open to the large stone backyard that was behind the Fenton building. Jazz hardly ever went out there: it was ugly and sterile, and besides her parents threw a lot of junk out there.

But apparently they had gotten rid of the junk, as the backyard was now filled with a massive form, covered with a tarp. A nearby computer platform had apparently been build right into the backyard, and her mother was typing at it as her father started grabbing the tarp. He noticed her standing in the doorway and a big grin split his face.

"Jazz, honey! I'm glad you're here, this deserves an audience! Behold, the definitive weapon in ghost hunting and catching!" He said, and he yanked the tarp off.

Jazz's eyes nearly bugged out of her head.

"WHAT?" she said.

"Yes. Behold it Jazz! The Fenton Ultimate Mobile Ballistics Logistics Equalizer!" Jack said, gesturing with both arms at his newest and greatest toy.

"What? Dad, that's a friggin' Apache helicopter! How in the heck did you get ahold of that?" Jazz said incredulously, for the device under the top was none other then what had once been an Apache helicopter, the greatest attack helicopter in the world, which was now covered with new gadgets and attachments her parents had made. It rather reminded Jazz of the way Danny would 'improve' on his old Lego toys by building what was on the box and then take spare parts and add to them to make the make-believe weapons even more deadly. Never mind that his additions would have made it impossible for the machines to fly, had they been real. And now here her father had gone and done the same with a friggin' Apache helicopter…

"Oh, don't thank me! Thank a wrongly checked box on some overworked bureaucrat's in pile!" Jack said, clearly overjoyed at his new plaything.

"Dad, those things are only supposed to be owned by the military! You can't have a military helicopter!"

"Oh but Jazz, this isn't a military helicopter! This is the Fenton Ultimate Mobile Ballistics Logistics Equalizer!"

"Well yeah but…wait…" Jazz said, as something occurred to her. "Fenton…Mobile…Logistics Equalizer……..F.U.M.B.L.E?" Jazz said in disbelief.

"What's in a name?" Jack said, as he clapped his hand on the side. "This baby is the ultimate in ghost catching! It had the greatest offensive weapons and defensive capabilities in the entire world! When we're done with that fire ghost, she won't want to step foot on this plane of existence for the next aeon!"

"And we're ready to go!" Maddie said, as she finished typing at her computer. The helicopter, oh sorry, the F.U.M.B.L.E blades' started to twirl, and a new question occurred to Jazz.

"DAD!" she yelled. "When did you learn to fly a helicopter?"

"Never did!" Jack yelled as he got in. Jazz's eyes bugged out again: her optic nerves were probably going to be stretched another inch by the time this was done.

"WHAT?"

"I did honey!" Maddie said as Jack slid over to the co-pilot's seat to let his wife sit in the pilot's seat, even as she started flipping switches. By now the downdraft from the twirling blades was forcing Jazz to cover her eyes before the wind dried them out and made them water.

"When did you learn to fly a helicopter mom?" She yelled.

"Oh, I did a lot of things while I was pregnant with you honey! You were a very heavy baby!" Maddie said in the way mothers do. "Now stay inside and make sure you drink your fluids!"

And Maddie closed the door, and the heli, er, Fenton Ultimate, ah, THE FLYING MACHINE started going up, the wind starting to push Jazz back as she craned her head up and watched her parents fly up and away, off to whatever fate awaited them.

"………..Godspeed mom, dad." Was all she could say. "And same to you Danny."

* * *

Mr. Lancer was taking a bite of his swiss cheese and ketchup sandwich and wondering about both what had happened earlier and how much he could bother the mayor for rebuilding funds when the side of the cafeteria exploded. 

"GRUH! CLUGHAH!" Lancer gasped, as some of the sandwich went down the wrong tube due to his shock. He stood up and looked in horror at the fleeing students. "MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN! WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON IN THIS SCHOOL!"

"Sir!"

And then Starfire dropped from the sky, and if Lancer had had any food still stuck in his throat, his heart leaping up it would have cleared it out nicely.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" he and some of the other teachers he was sitting with screamed.

"Do not be alarmed! I am here to help! You must evacuate all the students, quickly, this area is about to become a battle zone!"

"WHAT? NOT AGAIN!" Mr. Lancer cursed. "Why can't you freaks go and fight somewhere else besides my school!"

"Believe me sir, if I had an answer…"

And the fireballs began exploding from the roof of the cafeteria, due to Savior's efforts to defend himself. The destruction caught Lancer's eye, and then he groaned again.

"Naked Lunch! Why ME?" he groaned.

"Agonize later! Get all these students out of here before they start killing themselves in their own attempts to escape!" Starfire said, and then she flew away.

"Day of the Locust! What did I ever do?" Lancer groaned, and then he was all business as he grabbed the bullhorn and began yelling at the students. At least most of them were outside and able to escape easily this time, and this time they didn't hang around: they got the hell away from the school. Some got the hell out of Amity Park, and those escapes were probably great, adventurous tales…but I'm telling this one, so someone ELSE can handle the reins of those.

Starfire and Cyborg flew back to the newly enlarged door of the cafeteria, where they were making sure nothing happened to the fleeing students, while Savior and Raven kept Sizzle under wraps, at least until she got so mad she just blew the whole school up…

But Savior wasn't planning on letting her do that, as the Shimmer strand he had sent out of his heel, that had drilled through the floor under Sizzle, ripped up from the ground beneath her, grabbed her shoulder, and yanked her back, interrupting her concentration and her fireball barrage.

"NOW PHANTOM!" Savior yelled, where Danny was standing off to the side, not sure what to do: he was used to acting on his own and got confused when he was supposed to be working with a group. But he didn't need to be told twice, as he concentrated and the circles of power flashed over his being, and then Danny Phantom flew towards Raven's shield, the shield Raven dropped as Sizzle recovered, and then he went intangible and flew into Paulina's body.

"All right…" Savior said, as he pulled out the Fenton Special Thermos. Danny had given it to Raven, who had given it to Savior with the currently being carried out plan: Danny got Sizzle out and one of them sucked Sizzle up…

Except that plan never came about, as with a scream of surprise Danny was suddenly ejected from Paulina's body, as Sizzle's eyes glowed in insane contentment.

"Not this time, you little shithead." She half gloated/half hissed. "You think I learned nothing from my last body? The only way you're getting me out of this one is when I'M DONE PICKING ITS TEETH WITH YOUR BLACKENED BONES!"

And Sizzle thrust out her hands and fired off a volley of fireballs, sending explosions and flying tables, chairs, and other shrapnel flying through the cafeteria. Cyborg had to arm his sonic cannon again and blast a few large chunks away from the few remaining students who were still running, one of whom was in a wheelchair that was being carried off in the distance by Starfire so he didn't get tripped up by the messed up ground. Savior yelled as one detonated right in front of him and sent the Thermos flying right out of his hand before he crashed into the kitchen, a second before a follow up fireball ignited the ovens and caused the whole room to violently detonate.

"Ack!" Danny yelled, as he deflected a flying chair with an ectoplasmic shield from the kneeling position he was still in after his failed attempt to dispossess Paulina, even as Raven tried to deflect her own projectiles, and then the Halfa was suddenly aware of arms on his shoulder, and he turned to see that Sam was trying to help him up.

"Sam! Get out of here!"

"No! Tucker's not safe, but at least I…" Sam began.

And then the part of the table slammed into her chest; Sam should have been glad it was slammed broadside instead of edge-first, or else she'd have a new, very large, and very fatal piercing, but that was little comfort to Sam as the savage impact shoved her backwards even as she stumbled…which caused her to slam the back of her head into the wall with a sickening crack. She pitched forward onto the floor, not moving.

Danny's jaw dropped in shock at this sudden event.

"Sam." He said disbelievingly.

"Ha ha ha ha ha…"

Danny heard the laughter, and he turned to look at Sizzle as she floated Paulina's body up, the girl he admired from afar's body encased in a shimmering red heat haze, as she gazed down on her handiwork.

"Traitorous bitch deserved it."

"……..SAM!" Danny said, as his own anger awoke and roared through him. "That's it! OUTSIDE!"

And Danny blitzed through the air and slammed his shoulder into Sizzle, smashing them both through the cafeteria ceiling (which was fortunately weakened by the previous fireballs that had gone through it, or it might have been bad news for Paulina, Sizzle's current host).

"Is she all right?" Starfire said, as she flew over to Sam's prone form. Raven had made her way over first, and she leaned down to feel Sam's head.

"That was a nasty blow…definite concussion…" Raven said, and concentrated. As an empath, she had many abilities, but perhaps none was more useful then this: she could take the pain of another being into her own body, and in the process heal that being's wounds. And if there was little pain, like the kind an unconscious person had, it was easier, as Raven fixed Sam's cracked ribs and the several trace hairline fractures in her skull.

"She'll be ok now, but we'll have to pick her up later. I'm going to find Noel, you go help Danny!" Raven ordered, and then she vanished into the shadows.

"You heard the woman." Cyborg said, and he and Cyborg turned and ran for the opening that had made in the cafeteria wall.

They had made it two steps outside when the blast of power drove them back. And this wasn't a flame blast.

"What the…" Cyborg cursed.

"Going to help the Halfa, sorry children, but I can't allow that at the moment."

And then the form floated down, a blue skinned man with crazy hair that formed a crescent moon shape, dressed in a white outfit with cape.

"Oh now what? Who the FUCK are you?" Cyborg cursed: he hated when problems got more complicated out of the blue.

"Watch your tongue child, you address great power." Vlad Plasmius said. "I am Vlad Plasmius, your soon to be lord and master. You will give me respect."

"If you do not get out of our way, we will give you something, but it will not be respect." Starfire said, as her eyes and right fist glowed green. Plasmius clucked his tongue.

"You would think that such respected superheroes would have better manners." He commented. "But nevertheless, I can't have you interfere. I hate setbacks, they're bad business."

"Ok then man, bring it. We'll wrap your golden parachute around your neck and choke you with it." Cyborg said.

"Oh, trying to make a business metaphor? Well, nice TRY anyway." Vlad said. "Children, if you want to understand business, you should know that sometimes you do the work yourself, and sometimes you subcontract. And considering who I am, I have more then a few willing associates." Vlad said, and snapped his fingers.

And Skulker, Nikolai Technus, and Ember dropped down in front of the floating Halfa.

"Sic' em."

* * *

Danny and Sizzle flew up into the sky in a twisting, clawing mess, finally breaking apart when they were a few hundred feet above the school. 

"You touched me. AGAIN!" Sizzle screamed.

"OH SHUT UP YOU NUTCASE!" Danny yelled as he fired a twin handed EE blast at Sizzle.

Danny never saw her dodge. Indeed, all he saw was a long line that was made by Sizzle's heat haze as she zipped to the side so quickly she left an extended red trail after her, out of Danny's sight before he even realized she was gone.

The Titans' theorizing had been correct: Sizzle's greatly enhanced power as a spirit was due to her incredible anger. However, that was only half the story. The other half came about when Sizzle entered her host and found whatever secret or not so secret rages they concealed within them, linking up to them and using them as an even further power booster. With Jazz, she had tapped into her resentment towards her family, how her father seemed to be continually duncifying her mother, and with Valerie, it had been her anger at her fallen social status, the way her friends had abandoned her, and her growing vehemence against ghosts. And with Paulina, her intense rage at the way she had been humiliated, and while said rage may have been a mile wide but an inch deep, Sizzle was abusing the hell out of the mile wide part, as she zapped to the side, not even bothering to change her vertical pose, leaving three long trails behind her as she zipped around Danny in the space of a second.

Danny managed to turn around for it.

As Sizzle flew in, fire exploding on her hand, as she slammed her open palm into Danny's chest and detonated the fireball. Danny screamed as the point blank blast both struck and burned him, as he was sent backwards into an uncontrollable spin.

Sizzle zapped to the side again, her body leaving the trail as she used her new insane speed to move around, even as fire exploded on her foot, and just as Danny managed to right himself she zipped in and lashed out, both savagely kicking and exploding another blast across Danny's face. Danny couldn't scream that time: the pain was too great as the force wave of the blast again sent him into another uncontrollable spin.

Sizzle blurred away again, moving around Danny within a second even though she wasn't flying in a circular motion but a series of completely straight ones, as she clenched her right fist, fire exploding on it.

Danny righted himself.

And Sizzle punched him right in the face.

The explosion sent him spinning back so fast that his form blurred, as Sizzle laughed.

And then she spied something on the ground, and she got an idea.

Danny was trying to figure out which way was up when Sizzle zipped up above him and then flew down at terminal velocity, grabbing Danny on the way down and dive bombing with him towards the ground. Casper High was the current high school of Amity Park, but it had once been the school for the lower grades, and there had been a playground in one corner of the school. It had been dismantled, but one part still remained.

The sandbox.

Which, due to the fact that it had rained EXTREMELY heavily in the early morning hours of this day, was still soaked through, filled with wet, loose sand.

That Sizzle drove Danny straight into, headfirst, burying him up to his knees in the grainy rock, the impact ramming right through his body…and despite inwardly screaming not to do it, his body overrode his mind as Danny lost his concentration and slipped back to his normal form.

That was bad enough.

Until Sizzle, her eyes like hell and her smile like the gates to it, shoved her hand into the sand, and with a bright flash of intense heat, Sizzle converted the entire small pit of sand into dirty glass.

In such a way that the heat flash didn't kill Danny.

So instead, he found himself locked in the glass block, upside down, and with no air whatsoever…and without air, Danny's brain couldn't form a coherent thought like, Turn back and phase through the glass.

Sizzle laughed delightedly at Danny Phantom's final fate: a slow suffocation under intense pressure. Much like she had felt when her father…and all the others…

The rage came back. Danny Fenton was finished, but there was still a whole world of males left to burn. With a scream, Sizzle launched herself into the air, leaving Danny's legs sticking, almost comically, in her self-made coffin for him. Danny didn't find it so funny though: his mouth was full of thick glass and his lungs were screaming for air.

"DANNY!"

And Tucker arrived at the glass block, having fled at Sam's insistence, but he had seen the fight from above, and he had seen what Sizzle had done, as he threw himself down on the block of glass and hammered on it, though he might have well tried to stop a tank with a pillow.

"DANNY! TURN BACK! TURN BACK! DANNY!" Tucker screamed.

But from the look of utter horror Tucker could see through the distorted glass, it was clear Danny wasn't going to be doing anything.

Except die, of course.


	8. In Flagrante Ira: The Devil By The Horns

Chapter 8: The Devil By The Horns

"It's not enough that we should win. Everybody else must lose."

Attributed to Genghis Khan

_Entombed alive…_

_Why had he ever embarked on this mad, insane quest called being a hero? He didn't want this. He wasn't anyone special. He was Danny Fenton. He got average grades, had average friends, and with the exception of his kooky parents he had a fairly average life. He just wanted to grow up, become an astronaut, and then live out his life. He had always known he wasn't special._

_And then he decided to help his parents and fate reached out and MADE him special._

_And then why the heck did he do this? So he had power. He should have used them for his dreams. I mean, invisibility, intangibility, flight, overshadowing? You needed certain experience to become an astronaut, usually military, and Danny was sure he'd be one heck of a soldier. And hopefully he wouldn't get roped into one of those ultra secret black ops units that do all kinds of dirty work that Tom Clancy and his ilk were always writing about. He wanted to be Neil Armstrong, not Sam Fisher. But sure, he could use these powers, be a great soldier, and work his way to his dream. It was selfish, true, but think about it, he didn't ask for the powers, didn't seek them out, and if some kind of force wanted to reach out and grant him them, then he should be allowed to use them however he wanted, selfishly or not. You want to roll the dice, sometimes it comes up golden and sometimes it comes up snake eyes…_

_But no. He'd thought that he had to serve a higher cause, that he had been blessed and he should aid others, just like the Justice League and the Outsiders and all the other super groups out there, including the Teen Titans, and Sam and Tucker had encouraged him, and Savior had told him to bear the weight, and look where it got him: the target of an irrational unrelenting rage that wanted to destroy him just because he had been there, a rage created by others and inflicted upon him, and apparently it all ended now because he was frozen upside down in a huge block of glass and he couldn't breathe and he couldn't go ghost again because that required concentration and that required the rational mind and the rational mind had been completely buried under his instincts, his damn instincts, the same ones that had made the dinosaurs fight when they had been pulled under by the tar pits and the ones that made the Neanderthals fight until they were wiped out by the Cro-Magnons and the same damn instincts that kept telling him to break free, break free, which was impossible because he was sealed in the block as tight as a drum, he couldn't expand his lungs and take in air because his chest was sealed tight in the crystal prison, he couldn't even open his mouth because there was a thick blob of glass in it that had once been sand, and he could feel the darkness starting to close in on him even as he heard from a million miles away Tucker screaming and pounding on the glass and his feet kicked something and it was air and he needed air but air was notoriously difficult to get any kind of brace or leverage on and his lungs were on fire like Sizzle and she'd killed him and he was only fourteen…_

"DANNNNNNNNYYYYYYYYYYY!" Tucker screamed.

And then white lines were roping around him and pulling him back, even as Savior leapt over him, the lines that had yanked him away withdrawing back into his palms as his thrust his arms up.

"MOVE KID!" he yelled at Tucker, not pointing out that the Shimmer had already moved him, as he slammed his arms down and several dozen thin lines fired out from his palms and rammed into the glass block with immense force, shattering the heavy cube into a thousand pieces and freeing Danny in amongst a storm of jagged chunks, chunks of glass which were promptly seized by black energy and pulled away as the strands wrapped around Danny and pulled him from the hole, as Danny found that air was his again and he spat out a wad of lumpy glass and inhaled, and inhaled, as Savior pulled him out and placed him on the ground, as he grabbed his throat and took in great gasping breaths.

"Danny!" Tucker said, as Raven floated down in front of him, as Danny continued to gasp for air. Savior glanced at her.

"Injuries?"

"Not that I can see, but his predicament makes me worry about one possibility. Danny, relax." Savior said. Danny was barely aware of what Savior was saying: he was too busy taking joy in the simple pleasure of breathing.

So he was greatly shocked as the Shimmer shot out again, flowed into his mouth, and extended strands that pushed themselves into his lungs and stomach.

Danny froze in utter alarm at this. True, it wasn't painful: it felt like he had taken a very deep breath and that his stomach was suddenly full…but at the same time, there was a terrible sense of alien violation as the Shimmer briefly probed every corner of his abdomen and lungs, feeling around like gentle but still clutching fingers…and then they were pulling out, the white energy withdrawing itself back out of his mouth and into Savior's palm, and then Danny exhaled the breath he had just taken, making a noise that he couldn't believe what had happened.

"Gastric system and airway are clear of glass." Savior said.

"Guh-hu!" Danny gasped, still taking in deep breaths and unable to properly speak. "Wha-thu! Yu-duh uh!"

"Danny, I know it wasn't exactly pleasant, possibly on the level of desecration of your body…but believe me, you should be very grateful that I had the foresight to check that there wasn't a tiny shard of glass that would punch a hole in one of your lungs or pass its way through your digestive system making tiny cuts all the way and setting you up for peritonis." Savior said. He looked at Danny's eyes. "Burst blood vassals in the orbital sacs Raven. Think you can fix that?"

"Easily." Raven said, as she floated over a few feet and laid her hand on Danny's head. Tucker darted around and got a brief glimpse of Danny's eyes, the whites completely red, before the color drained away due to Raven's healing and left Danny looking human again. Tucker looked at Savior.

"Didn't you get blown up in the kitchen?"

"I am not so easy to kill." Savior replied matter of factly.

Taking a few more deep breaths, Danny tried to stand up, and stumbled a bit. Savior caught him.

"Hold it kid. Just rest a few more seconds."

"No…Sizzle…"

"My companions are surely…"

And then with a loud yell, Cyborg came flying past them and went crashing down into the small hole that had been made when Savior had freed Danny from his prison. Savior's eyes darted to it. So did Danny's, as he heard mad laughter and looked off in the distance to see Sizzle raining fireballs down on Amity Park.

His eyes glowed green.

"I'll rest when I'm DEAD!" Danny yelled, shoving Savior away as the circles flashed over him, and he flew up into the air and back after Sizzle. And this time, he didn't care if he had to put a few bruises on the host to get her out, even if it was Paulina, the girl of his dreams, because Sizzle HAD to be stopped and even if it ruined Paulina's pretty face for a bit he would DO IT.

"Tucker, get out of here!" Savior said.

"But…"

"Kid, please, you're a liability. VAMOOSE!" Savior yelled. Tucker blinked, and then he ran off.

"I hope the dumb kid actually listens." Savior said as he looked over at Cyborg, who was pulling himself out of the hole. "Hey! What's going on?"

"Some new player has decided to enter the game! Asshole named Vlad Plasmius, sicced some ghost goons on us! Starfire's alone, we have to back her up!"

"Plasmius…that's Danny's arch enemy. What's he doing here?" Raven asked.

"From what Danny told us, he's a megalomaniac, and I'll bet he sees something in this that he wants. Fine. He wants to come play in our game? Let's go break his bank!" Savior yelled, as the three headed back to Starfire.

"What about Danny?" Raven asked.

"Kid can handle himself for a minute!"

"What if this takes more then a minute?"

"Raven, these are Danny's foes, and the damn rookie beat them. How hard can they be?" Savior replied.

Starfire didn't exactly sharing Savior's low opinion, as at the moment she was frantically trying to dodge Technus's huge swinging fists, the master mechanic having constructed another physical battle body when he had gone to work for Plasmius. It was pretty much like his first one (albeit with better parts), and it was great for squashing things, but Starfire was proving to be difficult to squash.

"Silly girl! You cannot run forever! I, Technus, will squash you! But this is really annoying! Stand still, so I can smack your sweet booty!" Technus said: he STILL hadn't mastered the exact use of slang, so in the way of the truly hopeless, he was trying to correct that deficiency by using it more then ever. And his mangling this time offended Starfire.

"YOU WILL NOT TOUCH ME, BUT I WILL REACH OUT AND TOUCH YOU!" Starfire screamed, as she charged up and barraged Technus with Starbolts, the green energy projectiles slamming into the giant robot and making him recoil under the impacts. Growling, he thrust out his fist, and it extended on a piston and lanced at Starfire, who dodged easily and introduced Technus to more Starbolts, and his failed offensive move left him even more open as he stumbled back.

And then Starfire screamed as a powerful impact, accompanied by a held guitar jam, slammed into her back and sent her crashing into the ground.

"YEAHHHH!" Ember whooped, as she swung down, her arm still in the air from her guitar stroke. "What's mah name, roadkill?"

"Ember! Ember!" Technus chanted, with about 70 strategy and 30 real admiration, as Ember closed her eyes and smiled as she felt her hair blaze up. Ah, it was good to be worshipped again, and when Vlad had conquered the entire world she'd make sure she had a stadium of people and creatures devoted to nothing but saying her name, even as Technus ran in to finish his job, swinging up a massive fist and slamming it down, palm first, squashing Starfire like she was a mosquito.

"Yes! I have burned her back burner! I am safe!" Technus said.

And then his mechanical eyes widened as his hand was suddenly forced up.

"We…are not playing…the ball game with the bases…" Starfire said, her voice under strain as she brought her massive strength to bear and forced the hand up. "But…if you wish to…"

And then Starfire screamed again as another blast slammed into her back, sending her flying out from under Technus' fist and tumbling along the ground.

"A good hunter picks his moments." Skulker said, as his arm cannon returned to his gauntlet. "Ah, an alien. That will be a fine collectible."

"Ow this hurts this hurts a lot ow ow ow…." Starfire said as she bounced along, and then a hand caught her, a black energy hand.

"Ah! You have returned friends!" Starfire said as she finally collected herself. "We have new trouble. What do we do Savior?"

"Less talky talky, more thrashy thrashy." Savior said, as he sized the three ghosts up, and also made a note of the ghost floating off in the sky who was apparently watching the Danny/Sizzle battle, which had resumed with great din and calamity off in the distance. He assumed that was Plasmius. Well, if he decided to get involved, Savior would show him the cost of messing with a REAL team of superheroes.

"That big bastard's the one that threw me. I want him!" Cyborg said, charging.

"I shall claim the ink-eyed and instrument playing one for my soon to come victory." Starfire said, flying up.

"Ok fine, I'll take the…" Raven began, and then she yelped as a net suddenly flew out of nowhere and wrapped around her, tying her up in a tight bundle as she fell to the ground, Savior's eyes darting to her.

"Argh! There's some kind of mental dampener in this thing! I can't…concentrate…!" Raven cursed as the net glowed black faintly.

Savior looked at his struggling love, weighed the options, and decided that it would be best if he took care or at least tossed around the one who had tied her up before he actually tried to free her, otherwise he'd be a sitting duck. And if she got mad and cut him off for not immediately coming to her aid…well, she knew how he thought. Though he wouldn't be happy, as he turned his eyes to Skulker.

"BIG mistake."

* * *

Laughing, Sizzle rained hell down on the Amity Park street she had found, pleased as she watched the males frantically scramble away like the ants they were. The only downer was that the females were running as well, but one thing at a time. Once the men were cooked, their eyes would open. And those who didn't…well, Sizzle wanted to get rid of the male species, and if any females wouldn't let go of their attachment to them, they were disposable. 

Sizzle's eyes fell on a moving figure that had just managed to make it out of a burning house before it had collapsed, and she smiled as she saw what it was: a young man carrying a boy who was maybe two or three years old, and clearly his son.

"All right! Double generation elimination bonus! Fifty thousand points!" Sizzle said, as she formed another fireball and launched it down.

And her eyes widened as a green plasma blast flew in from the side and knocked the ball of flame away and into the distance, where it quickly poofed out when it got too far away from it's maker.

"TILT!"

Danny's foot slammed across Sizzle's face, sending her reeling across the sky, as Danny flipped over, ready, as Sizzle righted herself, staring at Danny in disbelief, which was quickly replaced by renewed rage.

"Shouldn't you be choking to death on glass?" She asked.

"CHOKE ON THIS!" Danny yelled as he fired a powerful ectoblast. Sizzle moved long before it hit, her body zipping immediately to the side, leaving that red trail of her form, as she zapped around Danny and…

Found the teen ghost doing a backwards flip in mid-air, as he rammed his left leg out and right into her face as she tried to swoop in and blast him with another explosion blow. She recoiled back, and then stared at Danny in shock, shock that increased when blood began running from her human host's nose. She reached up and brought her fingers to the organ, staring once more at the blood.

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…I forget the next part." Danny said, shrugging.

Sizzle blinked.

And then she threw her head back and screamed, screamed even louder then she had the last couple of times, as Danny slammed his hands over his ears and still felt the primal cry of wrath and agony drilling into his head as windows shattered for a block around and all the dogs began howling, and then she flew at Danny at superhigh speed, smashing her fist across his face.

Danny repaid her in turn, slamming his knee into her gut and then smashing a right hook across her visage. Sizzle reeled back and slashed out another flaming kick, but Danny turned intangible and it went through him, and then he flipped up as he reformed, smacking Sizzle under the chin with his toe and sending her spinning back. He didn't feel like he was hitting flesh, indeed: Sizzle's anger was manifesting a thin shield around Paulina's body and keeping her from getting the brunt of the blows. The poor girl would be bruised though, and Danny would have to live with the guilt of beating up on Sizzle's not so innocent host…but with the Thermos lost and the Fenton Mini Ghost Catcher still in one of the Titan's possessions and no time to get them because who knew how many lives Sizzle could take while he was gear hunting, he didn't have a choice.

Besides, Sizzle had hurt Jazz and Sam. If she was feeling even a bit of the pain that Danny was being forced to inflict on Paulina, it would make it easy to live with.

Sizzle screamed and fired twin flame blasts from her hands: Danny brought up his hands and formed two shields that the blasts flew into, detonating into a fire cloud as the shock wave pushed Danny back.

Then Sizzle flew from the cloud, shrieking, as she brought back her hands and claws of fire a foot long formed on her fingers, claws she slashed at Danny's eyes, claws Danny stopped an inch from said eyes by grabbing her wrist, even as Sizzle bore down on him and the two crashed down into the street.

* * *

"Hey Maddie, look at this! I managed to work the Fenton Ghost Gabber into the Ghost Finder as well! Now it can find ghosts, tell us how strong they are, and translate what they say!" Jack said, holding up the device. 

"That's nice dear. Are all the meters reading in the green?" Maddie replied.

"Uh…yes ma'am!" Jack said, checking the front of the helicopter, er, F.U.M.B.L.E…let's just call it the Fenton-copter, ok? Yeah, silly acronyms are funny, but they get damn annoying to write after a few times.

"Good." Maddie said, as they flew on. Maddie wanted to be sure all the weapons were up and running, because when she found the ghost that has possessed her daughter and nearly burned down her home, she was going to blast it until it had ceased to exist on ANY plane of reality.

* * *

"Hmmmm, a half demon girl, with the blood of the deceased high demon Trigon as well! What an amazing trophy this girl will…" Skulker had been saying, until he was aware that Savior was charging at him. "Oh great, here comes the previous property owner. I guess I'll have to convince him to sell." Skulker said, as he aimed at Savior, his cannon popping out and locking on. 

And Savior thrust out his arm, and the Shimmer swirled out from the forearm and formed into his own cannon, a cannon seven times bigger then Skulker's, as Skulker stopped his firing process to gap at it.

"Mine's bigger." Savior said.

And then the Shimmer flew from his other hand, smashing Skulker's arm cannon and then lashing to the side and taking the hunting ghost in the chest, knocking him down.

"And you should know that size doesn't matter." Savior said, as he withdrew the decoy cannon and the attack strand into his form, as he ran up to Skulker's prone body. "That's it? Too weak!"

Skulker's leg lashed out, smashing Savior across the face, and sending him bouncing along the ground, coming to rest near Raven.

"I deserved that." Savior said, and flipped up.

Just in time to see the net come coiling around him, encasing his own form and wrapping him up as tightly as Raven.

"Heyyyyyyy!" Technus said as Cyborg approached him. "My little brother in metal! You remember me, Technus! What's the nizzle my shizzle fo fizzle? I mean, con-drizzle my izzle, nizzle!"

"What the FIZZUCK are you saying?" Cyborg yelled.

"Hey man, I'm just trying to hip to your jive, monkeyman! Check out my suit, it's greasy sweet!"

"First of all, I have no idea what you're saying, and second of all…" Cyborg said, and then he armed his sonic cannon and let loose on the massive robot's chest.

"Hey! Bad manners my ni…"

"DON'T! EVEN! SAY! IT!" Cyborg yelled. He knew how some black people had appropriated that word as a compliment to each other to take the sting out of how it had been used for centuries, but after a VERY ugly incident in his past, Cyborg didn't want to hear the word in ANY context, as his shoulder pads opened up and he fired a barrage of mini-missiles at Technus, missiles that exploded across his body.

"Ok, fine! I, Technus will just catch you on the flip side, dudemeister! NOT!" Technus said, and then his arms, legs, and chest snapped open, revealing missile launchers.

"Oh sh…aving cream." Cyborg said.

The missiles launched out, and Cyborg vanished in explosions.

"Ha ha! I pity da fool, that doesn't respect the great Nikolai Technus!"

"What are you doing back, dipstick?" Ember said as Starfire flew up. "Didn't my last performance show you you aren't fit to thrash in my mosh pit?"

"I can hardly find a reason to be afraid of you, nor your inadvertent rhyming nor the pre-packaged glossy slick soulless junk you call music!" Starfire said.

"Oh, the sting!" Ember said, clutching her heart. "Forget it girlie. I do what I love, and as it is said, 'Art is long, and critics are but the insects of the day!'. Randall Jarrell." Ember said, as she adjusted her dial. "Now if you're done hating, COME ON FEEL MY NOISE!"

And Ember slammed her hand across the guitar cords and sent off another fierce wave of force, and as Starfire dodged and countered with Starbolts. Ember did likewise as she continued jamming on her guitar and sending more blasts of power at Starfire.

"Critics! 'Venomous serpents who delight in hissing!' W.B Daniel! 'Serpents who feed on filth and venom!' Voltaire! 'This wretched race of hungry alligators!' Shakespeare! Or was it Bacon? Or maybe it was…" Ember trailed off as she looked at all the shocked readers who had just been watching her fire off philosophy. "What? You think I can't read? You think there's a lot to do in the Ghost Zone?"

"You crave entertainment?" Starfire asked as she flew in close and fired off another score of Starbolts. Ember just smirked as she twisted her dial and then thrust her fingers down. A shield formed around her that the Starbolts exploded on, and then Ember raised her hand and thrashed the cords again, and the shield expanded rapidly and smacked Starfire, sending her tumbling off.

"'Oh God, that men should put an enemy in their mouths, to steal away their brains!' Now THAT was Shakespeare! OH YEAH!" Ember said as she again adjusted her dial. "Now to pay tribute to a rock god: SLASH!"

And Ember began jamming rapidly on her guitar, and lines of energy began firing out from her and at Starfire, who dodged rapidly from the huge onslaught and shrieked as one of the lines caught her on the arm and sliced her open, blood spilling out.

"Well, it appears the Teen Titans are far more reputation then sustenance." Plasmius said as he observed the battle and then turned his eyes back to where the Halfa and Sizzle were fighting. The female was doing very well.

She'd make a fine soldier.

* * *

A line of twisting, thrashing green and red force was zapping back and forth across the Amity Park street, smashing through burning abandoned houses, cars, and anything that got in their way as Danny and Sizzle exchanged blows, neither able to get through the other's guard. They crashed through the side of a house and then went straight up, Danny using shields and intangibility to go through the barriers and Sizzle just exploding/melting her way through as they two exploded from the roof and fought into the sky. 

Danny finally got his guard broken and Sizzle pummeled him, forgetting her flames in her mad rage as she slammed punch after punch into Danny's face and chest, even as their forms continued to go up into the sky, Sizzle finally zapping back and drawing back her leg for an explosion kick. Danny blocked the blow with a shield and then blasted Sizzle in the face with his ectoplasmic eye beams, sending her recoiling back…and slashing her foot up, catching Danny on his chin and knocking him back…and then she had zapped above him and fired down, smashing her foot into his chest and driving them down through the roof of another house. The two recovered in a split second and resumed their furious war of blows, once again not able to get through each other's guard. This time, Danny claimed the advantage, as he ducked his head to the side as Sizzle's fire-encased fist slammed into the stone fireplace and blew a large hole in it, and then Danny slammed his palm into Sizzle's sternum and let loose with a point back EE blast that sent her flying backwards. She crashed out through another wall, and as the house structure fell around her, Danny flew in and punched her across the face, sending her flying across the street and smashing into the front of another house, which collapsed from the impact.

Danny stopped them, staring at his hands. What was going on? In Halfa form, he'd been made stronger, faster, tougher…but never like this…he had never done anything like this. Was he high on adrenaline? Did his body even PRODUCE adrenaline in this state? Could he…and then he recalled he still had a fight to win as the wreckage shifted and then blasted off Sizzle, who looked at Danny with murder in her eyes, or even more intense murder. Paulina's body was holding up well, though it now had a new cut on its forehead.

"I HATE YOU!" Sizzle screamed, and thrust back her hand. A giant limb of flame appeared behind her, and Danny flew up as Sizzle slammed her hand forward and the gigantic fist vaporized the house they had just been in. Danny thought of all the memories that Sizzle had just destroyed, and he found more strength as he thrust his hands down and fired a barrage of ectoblasts, explosions erupting around Sizzle…and then she was flying up at him, slamming her palms together and firing a huge flaming arrow at Danny. Danny spun away to the side, only to find Sizzle blurring her way over there and smashing a flaming chop across Danny's face, sending him spinning across the stratosphere.

"NOW BURN!" Sizzle screamed, and then she began firing fireballs at Danny, dozens, hundreds, as Danny vanished into an explosion of heat that could rival a star.

Sizzle grinned ferociously.

And then Danny flew out of the explosions, his intangible form immune to the flames even as he turned tangible and slammed both his fists into Sizzle's chest, sending the two ghosts flailing across the sky again.

* * *

"I thought you guys were stars. Where's the power that bested Godsend? The teamwork that defeated the Lord of the Night? The dry wit that enraged Brother Blood?" Skulker asked as he approached the bound up couple. "Well, I guess I'll have to make due with…" 

A Shimmer blade sliced up through Skulker's net and ripped the binding apart, as Savior was lifted back to his feet by more strands, glaring at Skulker.

"Would you settle for the lash that staggered Asphyxiation?" Savior said, and smashed Skulker with the Shimmer, sending him flying off.

"Hmmmpphhh! Savior! Get me out of here!" Raven said, still struggling to free herself from her bonds.

"In a moment." Savior said as he ran after Skulker.

"HEY! GET BACK HERE! RIGHT NOW! OH YOU LOUSY…!"

"Now if you're still insistent on fighting the big guys, the kick that bowled over the Sorceress would like to have a word with you!" Savior said, as he leapt and snapped out his leg. But Skulker recovered quicker then he expected and grabbed the limb, swinging Savior around. Too long, as Savior slammed out his other leg and kicked himself free, flipping over and landing. He struck a combat pose.

"Oh well, I needed to test my new Maimbots anyway." Skulker said, as he reached down and unclasped his belt, on which happened to rest several small metal packets, and tossed it to the ground. There was a puff of black smoke, and then eight small robots came out of the smoke. They rather reminded Savior of the Mouser robots from the TMNT series, or maybe something from Ratchet and Clank…except these were real and they wanted to chew on him, as they leapt and ran, razor sharp metal teeth shining.

"Oh yeah! I, Technus, have da angry skillz!" Technus said, still celebrating.

"THAT'S MAD SKILLZ, YOU IDIOT!"

Cyborg flew out of the smoke, a little sooty but otherwise alright: he had beefed up his armor to help deal with Sizzle after all. Having activated the jets on his back, he flew up and slammed his fists into Technus' chest, his strength so great he staggered the giant robot. Technus growled and swung at him, but Cyborg flew away and zipped around Technus's head, slamming his feet into the back of the metal skull and sending the giant robot tumbling down to the ground with a giant crash.

"Now, if I may dust off an oldie but a goodie: BOOYAH!" Cyborg said, as he landed, armed his cannon, and turned…

And then long metal cords were attacking him, having sprung from Technus's arms, dozens of them, and Cyborg yelled and tried to retreat, but they were everywhere, coming faster then he could blast them, as Technus laughed and stood up.

"Thank you for getting so close! Now I, Technus, can finally jack into and override your systems to make you my slave!" Technus said. "I could use a personal assistant: he can clean all the awkward to reach cracks!"

"Oh no, that better not be, I'll…ARRGGGHHHHH!" Cyborg roared as he tried to fight off the tendrils…but there were too many…and they had already jacked in.

"Stupid dipstick, hear my song! You won't be listening to it long!" Ember sang, as she continued sending her cutting lines at Starfire, who was bleeding in a few more places and starting to tire from the dodging. "Ready to admit my genius now?"

"If you are a genius, then why are you serving under that badly hair dayed fashion disaster?" Starfire said, pointing to Vlad, hoping she could buy a few seconds.

"Vlad? Well, he might dress ugly and have that weird obsession with Green Bay…but you'd be wise to serve him too: Vlad Plasmius is The Primmortal!" Ember declared.

A brief pause.

"Oh, the Primmortal! Should I care?" Starfire asked.

"Actually, you'll be past caring in a bit." Ember said, as she once again adjusted her guitar (did I mention she'd brought a new tricked out guitar?). "I changed my mind! You ARE worthy of being in my mosh pit! So have fun, dipstick!" Ember said.

She thrashed a guitar cord.

And four huge energy spectres appeared around Starfire, and before she could do little more then let out a meep of surprise, they all zoomed forward, crushing her between their masses.

"OW! OWTCH! DON'T BITE THERE! OR THERE EITHER!" Savior yelled as he tried to fight and pull all the Maimbots off him. As mentioned, his clothing was concealed and highly refined armor, but these things had sharp teeth and claws, and a tight grip.

"Hmmmm, too much power in the actual physicality, I must adapt it more so they'll be ready to zap the ghost child with the ecto-disharmic wave motion devices if he tries to go intangible…" Skulker said, checking the computer in his gauntlet to see how his Maimbots were doing.

"ARRRGGGHHHHHH!"

Skulker looked up just in time to see Savior leap up and turn into a whirling dervish of razor Shimmer strands that ripped the Maimbots off him and tore them into pieces. Savior touched down again amidst a rain of scrap metal.

Skulker looked very unhappy.

"Those things take a long time to build!" He cursed.

"Yeah, home job? It shows." Savior said, and then he formed a Shimmer blade and dashed at Skulker.

"You mock me? You do not know who you are dealing with fool! But I will be glad to beat my name onto your arrogant carcass!" Skulker said, as he reached down and pulled a metal stick from his boot. The stick extended into a bo, and then twin bursts of spectral fire ignited on either end, revealing a flaming weapon Sizzle would be proud of.

"En garde! Ho! Hi-yah! Who-hah! Heee-yiiiii! Muh-sha-tohhhhhh!" Skulker yelled and whooped as he twirled, spun, whipped, and generally showed off with his flame staff, putting on a performance to show he was a master of the weapon.

He stopped and brandished his stick at Savior.

"…………..RO-SHAM-BO! SLUNG FLUNG DUNG! LAUNCH ALL ZIG!" Savior yelled, doing a whole series of ridiculous poses.

Then he kicked Skulker in the balls.

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Skulker shrieked.

"Now you've got the tone down perfectly, Bruce." Savior said, and spun and smashed the heel of his foot into Skulker's chest, sending him flying again. His flaming stick fell to the ground and Savior stomped on it.

"Now…I think I shall finish with the nerve blow that…" Savior began as he walked towards Skulker.

Who leaned up as a new cannon extended from his gauntlet and took Savior full force in the chest, sending him flying backwards and smashing back first into a tree.

"Sorry fat lady, you're not on the stage yet." Skulker said, as he re-charged his arm cannon to deliver a killing blow. He'd settle for skinning this teen.

And then he was aware of the sound of a net being ripped apart.

"FINALLY!" Raven yelled as she flew up. "You don't get any for a MONTH SAVIOR! AND AS FOR YOU, AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS!" Raven yelled, as she yanked a light post from the nearby street and hurled it at Skulker.

Who, having seen it coming a mile away, turned intangible and let it fly through him.

"All that time tied up, and that's all you can muster? No wonder your mate has to do all the fighting." Skulker said.

"You have no idea." Raven replied. Skulker arched an eyebrow, and then decided it might be prudent to turn around.

As it was, he had been prudent but not quick, as Savior had pulled himself up, and as the light post had gone through Skulker, he had leapt out and grabbed it with the Shimmer, spinning around several time to build momentum, and then as Skulker turned around, he launched himself at the ghost hunter.

"You think yourself this world's Kraven? Then make like your stolen image and KURT COBAIN!" Savior yelled, as his foot smashed into Skulker's face and sent him flying backwards, bouncing violently along the ground and finally coming to a stop. He didn't get up this time.

Savior landed, as Raven floated over to him. She glanced at him.

"Make like Kurt Cobain?" She asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Uh…you see Kraven the Hunter was a primary Spider Man villain, but he committed suicide back in the 80's, and since this guy's a hunter he's kind of a rip off, and Kraven committed suicide via shotgun to the head, like Cobain, and since I kicked him really hard in the head I figured…oh forget it!" Savior said, and ran to see where he could help.

"Ha ha ha! You are mine, little man! Maybe you should have seen me for the hip dawg that I, Technus, am, you lamestain!" Technus said as he linked up his systems and invaded Cyborg's.

"No! NO! GET OUT! GET OUT!" Cyborg shrieked.

"HA HA HA HA HA!"

"Nooooooooo….Master, I see you for what you are now…forgive me…" Cyborg said, as he knelt.

"That's better. But you still get a toothbrush for the first two weeks." Technus replied.

"I will thrive on it master…I will do all you say…"

"Good! Now tell me every weakness of your teammates so I can beat them and gain favor with Vlad!"

"Oh master…I will say this…they know that…I've been hacked by a diminutive immature punk with an IQ off the charts more times then I can count, and after all those times, I'm afraid YOUR hacking leaves a lot to be desired!" Cyborg said as he stood back up, and Technus' eyes widened as he realized that Cyborg had never been hacked.

"Oh, by the way, thanks for the linkup to YOUR systems!" Cyborg said, as his metallic crystal parts glowed bright blue.

"WHAT! NO!" Technus shouted as he reared back, trying to disconnect his tendrils from Cyborg's body. "NO! YOU Can…can…can…can, can you do the can can, can you do the can can, can you…" Technus sang as he started to dance, his huge body shaking the ground.

Up above, Vlad blinked.

"I am not seeing this. I am not." Vlad said.

Then he saw even worse, as Cyborg began making Technus do ballet.

"OW! OW! MY BODY ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BEND THIS WAY!" Technus shouted.

"Ok, fine. Let's see what's on the radio." Cyborg said, typing at his arm monitor. "Ohhh, Brittany Spears!"

"WHAT? NO! I…Hey Brittany! You claim you want to lose control! Come over here I've got something to show ya!" Technus said, as he began dancing like Brittany would, and if you've never seen a ghost controlled robot dance and sing like a dimming teen idol, considering that he sounds like he's voiced by Gilbert Goitfred…well, be glad. "Sexy lady, I'd rather see you bare your soul! If you think you're so hot, let me show me what you've got!"

"Technically that's Madonna." Savior said as he walked up.

"Semantics." Raven said.

"Hey, great idea, I'm up for some antics!" Cyborg said, as he pressed a few buttons on his arm. "DIVE! DIVE!"

"WHAT?" Technus said, as the tendrils finally dis-attached from Cyborg, but he couldn't override the final command the teen robot had given him, as he flexed his legs. "I CAN'T DIVE! THERE'S NO WATER!"

"That would fall under, not my problem." Cyborg said, and the three quickly scurried out of the way as the robot leapt into the air, did a perfect pose, and dove right at the ground, arms and head first.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

CRASH!

"Ohhhhh, nice form, but a little rough on the landing. He may have to settle for the bronze." Savior commented.

"Want to hack me buddy? Forget it! This is MY flippity-floopity-floop!" Cyborg said, thumping a fist on his chest. (Writer's Note: And if anyone gets THAT reference…well, I'll be impressed).

"Ohhh, what a performance! What to play for an encore?" Ember said as she watched her guitar phantoms smash the orange aliens to bits. "I could almost…"

Green energy erupted from the figures, and then they disintegrated as Starfire blew them away, her hands and eyes glowing as she looked at Ember, who looked annoyed, but hey, she still had a lot of tunes.

And then Starfire suddenly turned off the rage like it was a switch, her face spreading in a big grin, and Ember goggled at the sudden change.

"Your singing is inspirational!" Starfire said. "It reminded me of how I used to sing with my zorgylats and my qorgoys back on Tamaran. I so rarely get to do it on Earth, my friends do not care for it much…but you have swelled my musical soul with your performance, so how can I refuse?" Starfire said, and inhaled.

Now, you must understand. Some thin people who speak in high tones can sing surprisingly deeply. And some large men with thick chests can hit amazingly high notes. And sometimes a being can speak in English, sing in English, speak in Tamaranian, and even sing in Tamaranian, and nothing will happen…and sometimes if you sing a certain way…

Let's just say, in Simon Cowell's worst nightmares, he never even comprehended the sound that starting coming out of Starfire's mouth. Thankfully, she was far enough off the ground to spare her friends…but Ember got no such mercy.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ember screamed, clamping her hands over her ears. "MAKE IT STOP! AHHHHHHH! IT'S WORSE THEN WILLAIM HUNG! IT'S WORSE THEN CREED! GOD, IT'S WORSE THEN ASHLEY SIMPSON, AND SHE DOESN'T EVEN SING!"

And then Ember was aware that she was being relieved of her guitar, as her eyes had clamped shut when she had tried to block out the noise, and as she was aware of said terrible noise fading, she opened her eyes and looked up to see Starfire swinging up the instrument.

"Ember has left the building!"

And she smashed the guitar over Ember's head. And Ember's choice of a high quality guitar worked against her, as it didn't break. Ember hit the ground near her two companions, groaning.

"Quite an ax, indeed." Starfire said, tossing the guitar down.

"Thankew, thankew very much." Cyborg said, as Starfire flew down to join the group.

"Did we win?" she asked.

"Not until we finish off their leader, and believe me, after this nonsense, he's going to get one hell…"

And then a gigantic ectoplasmic blast came flying down among the Titans, exploding and throwing them away like rag dolls, and then they suddenly stopped, as orbs of green spirit energy encircled them, as Vlad Plasmius floated down.

"Talk to the hand." Vlad said, and waved. The orbs flew off into the distance and then exploded, and Vlad could see the Titans' bodies falling to the ground, but he didn't much care, as he turned and looked at his subordinates, groaning on the ground.

"Good help is so hard to find these days." He said.

And then he heard the gigantic explosion, and he decided now was the prime opportunity, as he flew up and off.

* * *

Danny may have been fighting better then he could have ever recalled in his life, but even that didn't help the fact that he was fighting a lost cause on one front: he was sane, and in some ways that limited him, as Sizzle would just not back down, quit, or cease in any form, throwing herself at him again and again in her insane fury, her shattered mind refusing to even comprehend the concept of surrender, yielding, or holding back, and while he felt he could REALLY cut loose that would seriously hurt Paulina and he didn't want to hurt her any more then he already was, and Sizzle was just coming and coming like a rabid dog and he was just trying to keep going and it was just…so…tiring… 

You can't blame Danny for dropping his guard: he's only human.

But this time, it cost him.

Oh, did it EVER cost him.

As Sizzle zapped back at an angle and then slashed down at Danny, her foot catching on fire, a foot she rammed right into his chest. But this time she didn't detonate the flame, oh no: this time she kept going, and Danny yelled as she drove him back down to the ground, the fiery foot searing his chest, and then he was hitting the road and ripping it apart, concrete and stone flying everywhere as Sizzle rode him like a skateboard even as she used him to carve a trench across the entire street and he was being cut and scratched and burned and battered and it was too much too much…

And then they stopped.

Sizzle smirked.

"Kaboom."

And then her fireball exploded, a whole twenty square feet of road, sidewalk, and front yards going up in flames as Sizzle detonated her gathered power. A twirling figure whirled backwards out of the inferno, as Sizzle uncoiled herself and looked at the ruin that had once been part of Amity Park, and hopefully Danny Phantom.

But after he had escaped the glass, she wasn't taking any chances, as she raised her hands and a new fireball exploded into being above her. THIS blast would blow whatever was left of Danny Phantom straight through the planet, and probably all the way to China.

If Sizzle had gotten the chance to fire it.

Which she didn't.

As she suddenly became aware of clapping.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Jack Fenton said. As well as having the irrational ghost thing, Jack Fenton could also to have been surmised to have a touch of Peter Pan complex, never wanting to grow up. 

"Almost dear." Maddie said in surprising sweetness, considering the intense state her mind was in.

The two didn't see the Titans as they flew over them, as the Titans tried to get up from Vlad's orb explosion. It hadn't really injured any of them, but it had sure been painful.

"I'm going to feel THAT in the morning…" Savior muttered as he got to his knees, the Shimmer massaging his stiff muscles. Then he heard the whirling blades, and he looked up as the Fenton-copter passed overhead. "Ok, has the National Guard been called in, because I don't see any other way a military helicopter could be here…"

* * *

"Bravo. Well done, well done." Vlad said, clapping. "I've never seen fresh meat able to wreck so much glorious havoc, especially with the Halfa boy trying to stop you. Very impressive." 

Sizzle didn't say anything: she just cocked her head and looked at Vlad.

"But my dear, random destruction went out after the seventh Godzilla movie. I think some guidance is needed. So I decided that I'd show up and offer you employment." Vlad said. "Now now, I know you're not fond of men. But I promise you, all I want is your considerable power, and once I have taken over the world, I'll give you plenty…"

A intense blast of flame exploded from Sizzle's hand, catching Vlad's head, and when it cleared, Vlad didn't have a head any more…until it popped out of his neck like a turtle.

"I take it that means no." Vlad said, sounding disappointed.

"You men." Sizzle hissed. "You think that all you have to say is a few smart sounding words and we'll roll over like he always do. You think we're your dogs, ready to play for a few table scraps. FUCK YOU AND DIE!" Sizzle screamed, and fired another blast of flame. Vlad dodged that one.

"My dear Sizzle, don't be irrational. Don't you know who I am?"

"FUCK YOU YOU…" And then Sizzle said a word so bad I can't use it in this fic: let's just say it rhymes with "socksucker" and leave it at that. Even Vlad blushed a little, before he had to dodge another flame blast.

"Sigh. Too bad. I thought you and I could have done some great things together."

"The Lord said that too. And when I'm done roasting your ass and every other male in this town, I'm going to find him and burn his lying tongue right out of his head!" Sizzle screamed. Another fire blast: this time Vlad just went intangible and let it fly through him.

"No my dear, I'm afraid that won't be possible. You see, those who are not with me are against me, and with such a loose cannon such as yourself, I can't have you running around." Vlad said, as he flew back, and then Skulker, Technus, and Ember, a little worse for wear but still quite capable of fighting, flew up before him. "Destroy her my allies!"

"Gladly. Hello misplaced aggression." Skulker said, as he aimed his cannon at Sizzle.

Sizzle slammed out her hands and let loose with a blast of flame so powerful the Titans felt it from their position some distance away, the fire totally enveloping Skulker. When he reappeared, he was scorched completely black…and then he disintegrated, his suit reduced to metallic ash, leaving only his tiny true form behind.

"…..Meep." Skulker said, and then flew off, deciding he'd rather read another book about gorillas.

"Harsh realm! But that will not work on me, woman! My heat shields are second to none! Just another reason why I, Technus, am the bomb!" Technus said, banging his hand on his chest.

"Oh yeah." Sizzle said, as she waved her hand at Technus, and then clenched her fist.

A dozen explosions of fire erupted WITHIN Technus, blowing him apart from the inside, his pieces raining down on the ground, leaving his own scientist-esque ghost form behind.

"….Bogus." Technus said, and joined Skulker in retreat. That just left Ember, who was a bit surprised at how quickly her teammates had been bested.

"Are you going to be smart and not fight me?" Sizzle asked.

"No way lady! I like what you preach, but I'M the fire girl in this place, and NO ONE RIPS ME OFF!" Ember said, as she switched the dial on her guitar. "CAN YOU FEEL THAT!"

Ember fired off a powerful force chord.

And Sizzle blurred to the side, zipping around Ember before Ember's eyes even made out the red haze trail she left behind her, and the next thing she knew, Sizzle was behind her, her hand on her shoulder.

"Like to sing, little girl?" Sizzle said.

Fire exploded around Ember, and she shrieked, but it didn't burn her. Instead, it just wrapped around her, encasing her in flame, as the ball floated up above Sizzle.

"Sing in hard vacuum." Sizzle said, and fired the ball off and into the air at high speed, sending Ember screeching along with it. Though her flame would disappear in space with no oxygen to feed it, she'd put enough force behind the toss that Ember wouldn't be able to stop until she hit the moon, or maybe the JLA's Watchtower satellite (and wouldn't THAT have been interesting…).

"And as for you you fuck…" Sizzle said. "With Danny Phantom dead, I need someone new to torment, since all I could do was blow him up. YOU'RE ELECTED!" Sizzle said, as she fired blasts of flame at Vlad.

Vlad didn't move: he just turned intangible and the fire went through him. Sizzle growled and lashed out with a whip of flame. It also went through him. Vlad yawned.

And down on the ground, in the middle of a smoking crater, Danny Phantom phased back up through the ground, turning solid as soon as he was out of said ground and kneeling, taking deep breaths. That had been close.

He could hear Sizzle still above him, fighting with someone. The Titans? Probably, who else could it…

Danny saw him then, and his eyes widened.

"Vlad?"

"Oh my, you seem to be all bark and no bite, eh, my dear." Vlad taunted as he effortlessly dodged and avoided Sizzle's attacks. Sizzle screamed and began firing dozens of small high-energy fireballs, that Vlad dipped and swooped around the sky to avoid.

"Oh missed. Missed again! Missed once more! Wouldja believe it, missed!' Vlad said, and then went intangible once again as the last number flew through him. "Well, didn't miss, but it doesn't matter!"

The way Sizzle was grinding her teeth, Paulina was going to need some dental work as Sizzle thrust her hands above her head and formed a fireball the size of a beach ball, throwing it at Vlad, as Danny slowly rose up nearby, not sure what to make of this.

And it went through Vlad, who was once again intangible, and Vlad reappeared, chuckling.

"Poor little girl, so much rage and so little substance. Maybe you shouldn't have been one of my soldiers after all. But hey, I could have always found a place for you in my kitchen." Vlad taunted.

If looks could kill, Vlad Plasmius would have been vaporized right out of existence, as Sizzle let out a snarling scream and thrust her arms up again, as another fireball exploded into being above her and kept growing, and growing, growing even bigger then the blast of fire Sizzle had been forming when she had been in Jazz's body, but Vlad Plasmius cared not a whit, as he smirked and crossed his arms behind his back.

"You women never learn anything. That's why despite all the super feminist nonsense morons like you spout, they'll never be anything more then second class."

Forget Vlad; Sizzle's look would have vaporized the entire Western hemisphere. Her anger was so great it was bowling Raven over again, even with the good distance she was from the battle site, waves of fury so intense and deep it even surpassed what Sizzle had felt towards Danny, even as Danny suddenly felt intense worry: nothing good could come of this…

Vlad examined his fingernails: he'd let the girl take this one last shot, and then he'd deal with her. He would handle her easily. After all, he was the Pri…

And then the fireball suddenly began collapsing, the flame shrinking into itself, as the blazing red went to a angry, light-eating black, as the fireball shrank all the way down to the size of a basketball and floated to Sizzle's hands.

"What the…" Danny said, and Vlad himself arched an eyebrow.

"SOULSEARER!" Sizzle screamed, as she fired a blast of pitch-black flame that gouted out towards Vlad, and being the arrogant moron that he was (why ELSE would he have been throwing all those taunts Sizzle's way), Vlad just decided to go ethereal again to avoid it.

BIG mistake.

The blast of fire didn't hit him head on: instead it engulfed his right arm. Vlad's eyes nearly bugged out of his head, and he screamed as he suddenly became solid again. Danny's jaw dropped as he saw Vlad's arm: it looked seriously messed up, as badly burned as a human arm would have been had it been lit on fire. But he'd been intangible, not able to be touched! How did…

"No…impossible…" Vlad said, not believe what he was seeing, even though the pain screaming through his being was telling him the impossible was very possible, and by the way, was it possible he could get some morphine?

Poor Vlad Plasmius: he'd fallen into the same pit so many of his ilk had before and probably would again: he'd put too much stock into his power, his plan, and his general greatness and now that a monkey wrench had been thrown into the works he had no idea what to do except feel the pain.

Sizzle smiled, chuckling.

"Never thought I'd say this, but thank you, you fuck. I needed all that anger to find what was needed. Like it? I call it my Soulsearer. And as you might noticed, it destroys ectoplasm. No matter WHAT state it's in." Sizzle said.

Then she held up her hand.

Fire exploded on her palm and immediately went black, and Vlad's eyes widened, he was still adapting to this sudden setback he hadn't expected Sizzle to be able to form another blast of Soulsearer so soon and…

"NOW BURN!" Sizzle screamed, as she fired it, and Vlad's mind, so well trained and refined, but also very unused to feeling pain, found his intellect and instincts crashing into each other and reducing any type of plan he could form to a crazy jumble and then the fireball was on him about to blow a hole straight through his chest…

Danny rammed into Vlad from the side, shoving both of them out of the way at the last second, the blast of deadly ghost destroying fire flying past them, and before Sizzle could call it back it dissipated like all of Sizzle's flames did. Sizzle's eyes widened, as did Vlad's.

"NO! YOU'RE DEAD!" Sizzle said.

"Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated." Danny said, and then looked at Vlad. "That was a one time thing Vlad. Next time you decide to stupidly heap insults on a rival and give them the ability to destroy us even IF we're see-through, don't come crying to me."

"But…I'm the Primmortal." Vlad said in disbelief.

"The WHAT?" Danny said.

Sizzle's scream of intense rage caught their attention, and Danny looked over to see she was forming another ball of Soulsearer flame.

"Well, I would love to hang around, but I must analyze this new development. Have fun with your new friend, boy!" Vlad said, and then he flew off. Don't call it running. Call it a tactical retreat.

"Ho boy…" Danny said, as he saw the black flame forming…

And then konking out, as Sizzle gasped and grabbed her chest. Danny arched an eyebrow.

"Mental note: forming Soulsearer…really drains the host…" Sizzle gasped, and then she looked back up at Danny, murder in her eyes. She didn't care if this host was drained though, she was going to kill this bastard boy, and NEXT time, he was going to die SCREAMING.

Shrieking, she launched herself at Danny.

And occupied them so much that neither was aware of the sound of an approaching helicopter.

* * *

"I see something!" Jack said as the Fenton-copter closed in on the mid-air fight between Danny and Sizzle, a fight that was starting to creep closer to the actual city part of Amity Park. 

"I'm reading two signatures." Maddie said, looking at her radar. "Let's stand by for visual confirmation."

The Fenton-copter flew in closer, as Danny and Sizzle punched, kicked, and blasted each other, not even noticing the approaching vehicle…until it was twenty feet away, as another explosion drove them apart.

"It's that white haired ghost! He's ALWAYS around!" Jack said.

"I gather from the fact he's fighting the fire ghost he's on our side. You think he needs our help?" Maddie asked in a rhetorical way. She didn't care if the white haired ghost needed help or not: she had a family to avenge.

"I don't…OWTCH!" Jack yelled as Sizzle zipped forward and slammed into Danny, trying to strangle him as he tried to break her grip. "Let me get a reading!" Jack said, as he pointed the new Fenton Three-In-One at Danny and Sizzle's grasping forms.

The beeping was so loud it even got Maddie's attention.

"HOLY MOTHER OF SARAH WINCHESTER!" Jack yelled. "This ghost's power level is off the scale! I can barely…"

Sparks flew from the Fenton 3-in-1, as the device fried trying to register the data.

"I'd say he needs our help! And this thing needs a new power pack!" Jack said, as he opened the device and began removing the slagged power pack even as he tried to pull out a replacement from his pocket at the same time.

"Oh no, mom and dad! Not now!" Danny said, and then he managed to get enough leverage with his foot to shoved Sizzle away. "And since when do they have a military helicopter?"

"Ah ha!" Jack said, as he slammed a new power pack in, and then Danny flew up to the side of the helicopter, looking at his Dad. "AHHH!"

"It's ok! But Da….daer sir, you must leave! It's too dangerous here!" Danny said.

"It's ok. But Da…daer sir you must leave. It's too dangerous here. Fear me." The Fenton 3-In-1 said.

"Oh don't worry kid, we're professionals! Why don't you take a…"

"YYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sizzle screamed, and then a gigantic blast of fire was flying at the helicopter.

"NO! I WON'T LET YOU!" Danny screamed, as he flew in front of the helicopter and formed a massive ectoplasmic shield. The fire struck the shield and exploded, throwing Danny to the ground.

"No. I won't let you. Fear me." Said the Fenton 3-In-1.

"BURN BOY!" Sizzle screamed, as she threw her arms back.

"I am in considerable emotional distress, not to mention my mental capabilities are significantly deteriorated. Fear me. No, really."

Danny flew up again before Sizzle could fire, the need to protect his parents overriding his starting to grow exhaustion, as he slammed his fist across Sizzle's face and then flipped over her and kicked her in the back. Sizzle spun through the air.

"All right! Give 'em the old one-two! Oh yeah!" Jack said. "Man, I wish Danny could see this!"

"Won't be much to see soon." Maddie said sweetly, as she began locking all the weapons of the Fenton-Copter onto Sizzle.

Sizzle righted herself. This wasn't good. Her host was pretty much finished as an anger stockpile. She needed a new plan, as she glanced around.

And then she had an idea.

"You want to give up, you…huh?" Danny said, as Sizzle suddenly took off into the air like a rocket. "Hey, come back here!" He said, as he flew after her, but Sizzle was, as mentioned, very fast, as she quickly zipped up very high.

"So long, farewell, let's hope you don't go splat." Sizzle said, saluting.

And then her form flew out of Paulina's body, leaving the slightly battered girl there, absolutely uncomprehending of what had happened.

Until she looked down.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Paulina screamed as gravity finally resumed control and seized its errant child, as Paulina fell to the ground, screaming in mortal fear.

"Aw man! It figures!" Danny said, as he saw Paulina begin to fall. Well, Paulina loved Danny Phantom, maybe he'd get a kiss out of…

"Where'd that ghost go?" Jack said, looking around. "And we had a perfect lock! I so wanted to test the Fenton Ghost Obliterator…"

A brief flash of light and a surge of heat suddenly flared up next to Jack, and his eyebrows arched at the sudden strange sensation.

"Maddie?" He said, turning towards his wife.

Sizzle smiled evilly at him.

"GET OUT."

Danny was just about done figuring out how would be the best way to save Paulina when he was aware of another, small explosion, and his ears followed the sound as he saw the door to his father's side of the helicopter blast open and his father fly and fall out, yelling and screaming himself. And suddenly his veins were filled with ice.

He couldn't catch both of them.

He'd have to save one.

And one only.

But which one? His dad was obvious, but Paulina, his dad might have a parachute, he was paranoid and always overequipped for his jobs, but what if he was wrong and one had to die he couldn't and they both screamed and what did he do…

"Danny!" Cyborg yelled as he flew past him, and Danny nearly had a heart attack. "We got it! Don't worry!"

Danny watched Cyborg fly to catch the falling form of Paulina, and he turned to see Savior leaping through the air, the Shimmer already flying out to catch his father, and the mind-numbing fear faded…

And then returned full blast as he realized why his father was falling out of the helicopter.

As Sizzle brought the armed to the teeth juggernaut up level with Danny Phantom, smiling with his mother's mouth.

"Welcome, to the Sizzle School of Flight. I'm afraid this will be quite a crash course." Sizzle said as she finished adjusting the lock so all the weapons were trained on Danny. "GENTLEMEN, START YOUR SCREAMING!"


	9. In Flagrante Ira: Sheer Firepower

Chapter 9: Sheer Firepower

"Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you."

-New Testament, John XII, 35

"Maddie! How could you! Oh Maddie…!" Jack was yelling as he fell, his suit having protected him from the blast of fire that had blown him out of the helicopter. He was just coming to the realization that what had just blown him out of the Fenton-Copter wasn't his wife when he felt the lines grab him. "What?"

"It's ok sir! You're safe now!' Savior said, as he made the awkward trip of hopping from building to building considering there was hardly any room to swing from. Good thing he wasn't Spider-Man, as the Shimmer was considerably more versatile then a line of webbing, as he pulled Jack Fenton's large form to him and tried to find a place to set him down.

"Oh thank you! I must…" Jack began, and then, as Savior reeled him in, he saw Savior's all white outfit and hair.

Could you really BLAME him?

"AHHHHH! ANOTHER GHOST!" Jack yelled.

"What…?" Savior said, looking up, and then Jack klonked him on the head with the Fenton 3-In-1, which he had somehow managed to hold onto all the way down. Fortunately, it was light, and Jack was at a bad angle, so it didn't really hurt. But it certainly disrupted Savior's concentration, as the lines flowing out of his arms lurched and the two dropped down several feet before Savior could adjust, and Jack was still hitting him.

"I can accept ONE good ghost, but two is too much! You have evil plans, but I will not let you carry them out!" Jack said, as he continued bonking Savior on the head and shoulders.

"OW! OW! I'M NOT A GHOST YOU IDIOT!"

"That's just what an evil ghost would say!" Jack said, as he continued. "Though I must admit you are surprisingly concrete for a ghost! Maybe you are an evil, stupid ghost!"

"I'M NOT A GHOST!" Savior yelled, even as he lowered the two onto a warehouse roof.

"You will not fool me! Not after what has just happened!" Jack said as he continued with the bonking, and Savior, finally having had enough, sent a Shimmer strand out of his back to coil up and give Jack a light blow in the forehead, which would hopefully dissuade him from the constant bonking.

"Ow! Your evil ghost tentacle will not stop me! I will defeat you!" Jack said, as he started swinging at the Shimmer strand, which dodged easily and gave Jack another, slightly harder blow. "OW! Never! I will not yield! You shall be crushed, evil ghost…!"

Considering they were an inch away from the ground, Savior's third blow was probably a bit (ok, a lot) harder then it should have been, but as mentioned, Savior had little patience for some things, as stars exploded in Jack's eyes, even as Savior touched down and set the large man on the roof, where he staggered a bit.

"My god! I see it all so clearly now!" Jack said.

"What?" Savior asked.

"Ghosts…it's idiotic! I've been wasting my life! I must give up this foolish quest, so I can find my true calling. Yes, I must prove the existence of, FAIRY GODPARENTS!"

"Wrong channel." Savior muttered, and smacked Jack in the forehead again. He staggered back a bit, blinked, and then looked at Savior. "Ah ha! Now I have you, evil ghost!"

"Whatever." Savior said, as he turned and ran off, swinging back to the battle site.

"Ha ha! That's it, run! Fear the great Jack Fenton…" Jack said as he looked around.

And realized there were no stairs down from the roof.

"Um, evil ghost…could you come back…I'm kind of stuck…"

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH-OFFFFF!" Paulina woofed as she fell into Cyborg's arms. 

"Got you! Don't be afraid miss, I'm here to help you." Cyborg said: all superheroes pretty much had this line to feed to people they caught: it kept them from panicking and trying to squirm out of their grip.

"Ohhhhhhhhh…what happened…" Paulina said.

"Nothing. You just got caught in a small mess." Cyborg said, as he flew off, not wanting to set Paulina down near the battle and have it drift over her way so she found herself involved again.

"Uhhh…AHHHHH!" Paulina said, and Cyborg started.

"What?"

"My nails! They're ruined! Who did this to my nails!" Paulina said, staring in horror at her hands. Cyborg sighed.

"Nothing you could help."

"Hey…watch where you're holding me! That's a no no place! No one…" Paulina said, struggling.

"Look miss, unless you just want be to drop you in some pool, I suggest you be nice!" Cyborg said. "Ugh, shallow…"

And then a loud crunching noise sounded on Cyborg's back, and he jerked a bit.

"Uh oh."

"Uh oh? What do you mean uh oh?" Paulina demanded.

"I thought my rockets might be somewhat on the fritz…I think my assessment was too insubstantial." Cyborg said.

And then one of the rockets konked out, and without two to provide balance and keep the weight up, Cyborg went into a spin, Paulina screaming for dear life, as the two headed for the ground.

"Hang on!" Cyborg yelled, as he managed to spy a construction site and exerted what little control he had left to point himself towards it. Fortunately, it was empty at the moment, leaving only a just started skeletal framework of a building, some heavy machinery, and due to the previously mentioned heavy early morning rains, a lot of mud.

That Cyborg dropped Paulina into, even as he screamed and crashed into the metal framework, the two constructed floors buckling and then collapsing on the teen machine, even as Paulina bounced a few times and came to a stop.

She looked at her arms, and then a small shriek of pure horror and disgust came from her mouth as she looked at her form, which was covered head to toe in wet dirt.

"Uggggghhhhhhh…I take it that means you're all right." Cyborg said from under the debris.

"ALL RIGHT! MY MAKEUP! MY HAIR! MY CLOTHES! MY BEAUTY! How can I be all right? I'm a mess!" Paulina wailed.

"YOU'RE a mess? I'M UNDER FOUR TONS OF STEEL!" Cyborg yelled, and then with a roar he exerted all his power and threw the wreckage off of him. He muttered, holding one side of his head as he shook it, and then he started re-routing power to his jets.

"You HURT?" Cyborg asked.

"My clothes! My clothes!" Paulina moaned. Cyborg grit his teeth, and then he demonstrated that he was a nice guy at heart as he didn't have to give Paulina this idea.

"Well, look on the bright side. Your daddy will be so glad you're alive, he'll probably buy you whatever you want." Cyborg said. His systems informed him power had been successfully re-routed, and he began warming up his jets again.

"But…I…uh…hey!" Paulina said. "You're right! A whole new wardrobe! And this mud is probably great for my skin! Thank you!" Paulina said, as she threw her arms around Cyborg and hugged him.

"Yes yes, please step away miss, I still have business to take care of…" Cyborg said, as his jets ignited and he flew off.

"Thank you Robot Man!" Paulina said, waving.

"CYBORG! CYBORG! MY NAME IS CYBORG! Robot Man is on the Doom Patrol!" Cyborg yelled back as he flew off. "You know, speaking of the Doom Patrol, maybe Sizzle ain't so bad. Well, she ain't the Brotherhood of Dada, that's for sure, she won't be sealing Amity Park into a painting like they did with Paris…"

* * *

True, Sizzle may not have possessed the mad creativity to do something like seal Paris in a painting…but she had enough to abandon her tiring host and select a new one, the mother of her enemy, who she would use, with the weapon the mother had brought to destroy her, to destroy HIM. 

And she was in possession of an AH-64D Longbow Apache helicopter, the improved version of the AH-64A Apache helicopter, one of the deadliest weapons in the world. Which had been heavily modified by the Fentons to destroy ghosts. HEAVILY modified.

The situation, not to mention the irony, was delicious.

Not so much so to Danny, as he saw the panels underneath the helicopter snap open and struts emerge as missiles armed.

"Spectral Destroyers armed." The Fenton-Copter's computer informed Sizzle, as she snapped the firing guards off the flight stick and pressed the button.

"Oh no." Danny said.

Six missiles fired from the Fenton-Copter, blasting at Danny, who started to fly backwards. He tried to blast them with ectoshots, but the blasts just bounced off: the missiles had shielding. And they were following him. Danny stopped, started to turn intangible, and then realized that even if the missiles missed him, they could fly off and crash into buildings, risking how many lives.

And then the missiles split apart, as the six missiles chasing him became six DOZEN mini missiles, all drawing a bead on him.

"AH NUTTTTTTTSSSSSSSSS!" Danny screamed, and formed an ectoplasmic shield in front of him, closing his eyes as he focused, ready to try and bear the terrible backlash.

The missiles started slamming into the shield, and the impacts rang through Danny…but it seemed easier then he expected. A lot easier. He opened his eyes.

Raven was floating next to him, her hands and eyes aglow, as she added to his shield with her own black power, enhancing it and allowing it to take the impacts. The last of the projectiles slammed in and exploded, and then Raven lowered her arms, breathing heavily.

"Thanks." Danny said.

"No-"

The balloon struck Raven in the chest and exploded, the thick viscous fluid splattering all over her, and she screamed as the liquid stuck everywhere, weighing her down, as she tried to fly and found she couldn't, as she fell to the ground, landing on the concrete and sticking there.

"Not again!" She cursed, as she tried to free herself from the glue.

"Aw man, alone again, naturally." Danny said, and turned back to the Fenton-Copter, where Sizzle was glaring at the computer.

"Glue? Fuck that! I wanted something fatal for that little bitch who killed me!" Sizzle said.

"Would you like to increase the acidity of the Fenton Ghost Glob?" The computer asked.

"Yes!"

"Please select level." The computer asked, as a panel slid open and a dial slid out, marked from one to ten, the dial currently set on 1.

Sizzle turned it to 10 so fast she nearly broke the dial off.

"Warning, such high acidity has a 99.7 chance of utterly disintegrating target." The computer said.

"Now you're catching on." Sizzle said, as she looked back up.

And found Danny flying at the cockpit.

"GET OUT OF MY MOTHER!" Danny screamed: he didn't care if his last attempt to depossess Sizzle had failed, he would NOT allow his mother to come to harm!

And his mother wouldn't let herself come to harm either, as she had build the F.U.M.B.L.E to protect from such things like invading ghosts, as Danny bounced off an invisible barrier that was two feet from the cockpit, a barrier that absorbed the force he had inflicted by crashing into it and reflecting it back three-fold, sending Danny tumbling through the air with a scream.

"Ohhhh, ghost shielding. Very nice work, Mrs. Fenton." Sizzle said, as she locked onto Danny with the Ghost Glob gun. "Jalapenos, eat your heart out!"

And Sizzle fired the balloon filled with the new mixture of the Ghost Glob at Danny, as the mixture was made right up in the weapon and hence could switch from benign to total cellular annihilation almost immediately.

Danny saw the balloon coming: be glad he decided to turn intangible and let it fly through him instead of blasting it and getting an acid bath. The balloon fell to the street and splashed onto the roof of a car. A few seconds later, there was pretty much no car. Or the street that was under it.

"No! Stand still!" Sizzle cursed as she armed and fired more acidic balloons. Danny went with what had worked and went intangible to avoid them, and he countered with his own ectoplasmic blasts. Which were stopped by the shielding: The Fentons hadn't been kidding when they said this was the ultimate ghost hunting vehicle. Too bad it was turned on Danny.

"Where's some help when I need it?" Danny cursed as he dodged another balloon and fired another ineffective blast.

"You rang?" Starfire asked cheerfully, suddenly next to Danny. Danny jumped, or more exactly, jerked his body up another foot. "What would you have me do?"

"That helicopter is shielded against my attacks. Go see if the same can be said for YOURS." Danny said. "But be careful! Sizzle's got my mother!"

"I understand! HAHHHHHHHHH!" Starfire yelled as her eyes glowed green, flying in. Small guns extracted from the side of the Fenton-copter as she closed in and began firing rapid-fire laser blasts, but Starfire just dodged around them and opened fire with her own energy barrage. An onslaught of Starbolts exploded across the side of the Fenton-copter…and left a few minor burn marks and not much else. Starfire's eyes widened, and then she had to dodge away before the trail of blasts caught up to her.

"I an unhappy to report my attacks have proven as ineffective as yours." Starfire said as she flew back to Danny's side.

"Yeah, it figures. Not only great shielding, but great armor." Danny said. Starfire was about to reply, except another acid balloon had just been fired at them. Starfire yelped, and then Danny grabbed her shoulder and turned them both intangible. By the time Sizzle was done with that weapon, the city of Amity Park was going to have to spend its whole transportation budget fixing the massive potholes she was making. As the Halfa and Tamaranian turned solid again, they both fired back, twin blasts of green power that slammed into the front of the Fenton-copter, and while the shielding prevented any damage the impact sent the aircraft into a spin. Danny's heart seized up: his mother. She was in there, being used as Sizzle's host: how could he and the Titans effectively fight back without risking harm to her?

If it was any comfort, Sizzle was wrestling with her own conundrum, as she cursed and said more swear words I can't use in this rating, as she fought with the controls to right the Fenton-copter.

"FUCK!" she cursed as the vehicle finally came back under her control, as she tried to turn it towards the two. "What good are all these weapons if THEY JUST GO THROUGH HIM, YOU STUPID BITCH!" She yelled, cursing at her host.

"Would you like to activate the Fenton Ghost Destabilizer?" The computer asked.

"What?"

"Would you like to disable the target's powers?"

"……….Yes. Oh hell yes." Sizzle said, as a grin spread on her face that would have done a shark proud, or at least a lawyer.

"Arming…"

"Oh no this again!" Danny yelled as Sizzle fired off more missiles, but these were just a decoy. And Starfire fell for it.

"I will handle these!" Starfire said as she flew off, firing off Starbolts. Apparently, the missiles' shielding wasn't as good as the Fenton-copter's, as unlike Danny's spectral plasma, the Starbolts made them explode…very small explosions, which confused Starfire. Then again, these were missiles designed to harm spirits, not physical objects…

Which Danny was about to be, as the Fenton Ghost Destabilizer locked onto Danny.

"So long kid." Sizzle said, as she armed up the last acid balloon alongside the Destabalizer. First she turned off the powers, and then she melted him into his component genes.

She pressed the firing button.

"Please select power." The computer informed her. She looked at it. "What?"

"Please select power to be disabled." The computer replied.

"What? You can't turn them all off?"

"Prototype only allows one at a time."

"Argh. Fuck. Fine. Turning intangible!" Sizzle said.

"Acknowledged."

"YIKE!" Danny yelled, as a small cannon suddenly emerged from the top of the cockpit and fired a red blast, a red blast so quick he couldn't dodge it. When it struck him, he felt like he had a muscle cramp…in his entire body. He yelled and spun away, trying to get his bearings.

"Target struck. Intangibility disabled for thirty minutes." The computer said.

"All right, do flight next!" Sizzle yelled.

"I am sorry, the prototype Fenton Ghost Destabalizer is only good for one shot." The computer replied.

Sizzle stared at the cockpit.

"You should know what your vehicle is capable of, Mrs. Fenton. I would tell you to read the manual, except that is pointless because you wrote the manual."

Sizzle screamed, enraged, and instead of doing the smart thing like looking into Maddie Fenton's memories to examine the full capacity of the F.U.M.B.L.E, she did the angry thing as she locked the last acid balloon on Danny and fired it.

"Oh man…oh…" Danny said, as he finally recovered, only to see the balloon flying at him. He went to the well again…

And found it empty, as his attempt to become incorporeal only resulted in his whole body cramping like a muscle informing its owner that it had had it and can't do any more for a bit. It didn't take Danny all that long to figure out what had happened, but the amount of time it did take was enough for the acid balloon to fly in close…

So when Danny, reacting in instinctual fear for his life, blasted the balloon instead, it exploded and caused the acidic slime to go spraying out and right for him, and Danny saw his life flash before his eyes…

Just before the sonic cannon blast slammed into his side, sending him tumbling across the sky as the slime sloshed over the empty space where he had just been and fell to the ground. Danny went tumbling to the ground and ended up in a bush, where he groaned.

"Sorry Danny!" Cyborg said as he flew over. "It was all I could think of in the moment!"

Danny gave Cyborg a hazy thumbs up. Or maybe he was giving him the finger, Cyborg didn't know from the distance, as he turned and jetted over to Starfire, who was finishing off the last of the rockets.

"Ok Star, let's go!" Cyborg said, as he switched to his gatling cannon.

"No! Sizzle has possessed Danny's mother! She's the one flying that vehicle. Any assault we make could risk harm coming to her!"

"What? Great." Cyborg said. "What do we do?"

"I believe our optimum plan of attack would be to remove Mrs. Fenton from the vehicle. And considering how difficult it would be to approach her, I think Raven is needed."

"Great, where is she?"

"Uh…down there." Starfire said, pointing, and Cyborg looked down to where Raven was, glued to the ground and clearly not happy about it.

"I will free her. You distract Sizzle, but remember, do not attempt anything major!" Starfire said, as she flew down.

"Right, attack the heavily armed flying weapon without really attacking it." Cyborg said. "Well ok. There's a reason I'm a master mechanic." Cyborg said, as he changed his gatling cannon back to a normal hand. "All right then, let's get physical!"

"Dammit! Shoot him!" Sizzle cursed as she tried to fire more missiles at Cyborg as the man-machine flew at her, his rockets blazing.

"Spectral Destroyers have been exhausted. Would you like to switch to the Fenton Ghost Bolos?" The computer enquired. Sizzle didn't get to enquire what those did, as Cyborg slammed into the front of the helicopter, his strong hands reaching and seizing the metal front, the ultra-strong digits digging in, just a bit, even as his back rockets blazed harder and Sizzle found herself being pushed back. While her shield was apparently good for blocking Danny and general energy attacks, it didn't seem to work on non-ghost entities.

"Now that I have your attention, listen to me!" Cyborg said as he armed his sonic cannon: he'd carefully converted it to a setting that would knock Maddie Fenton out without causing her too much pain: she might have a burst eardrum or two.

Sizzle glared at Cyborg.

"Activate perimeter defense?" The computer asked.

The glare became that vicious grin again.

"Yes. Go fuck yourself." Sizzle said.

The surface of the Fenton-copter suddenly coursed with electricity, and Cyborg made that weird noise people make when they are being electrocuted before the sheer voltage threw him off the helicopter and sent him spinning back through the air. Cyborg managed about ten spins before he managed to stop, his body jerking a bit as it worked out the voltage.

"Oh now you've…!" Cyborg began, and then he suddenly felt an intense pressure on his ankle. He made a very small yelp and looked down, wondering what bizarre weapon was attacking him now…but it wasn't an offense. In physical terms anyway: the grip was from a white energy line, one that had converted it's basic nature to extreme elastic in order to propel it's carrier up.

"Thanks Cyborg!" Savior yelled as he flew up past Cyborg. Cyborg's eyes widened.

"Savior, did you just use me as a LAUNCHING GRIP?"

"And a launching pad, sorry." Savior said as he started to fall back down, and then twin Shimmer lines grabbed his shoulder, as they contorted Savior's falling form out and then back, launching Savior over Cyborg's head and towards the helicopter. Cyborg stared, and then he started sputtering in righteous indignation, even as he flew back up to level with the helicopter so he could embark on his own assault.

"I'm not a rassnnn frassnnnn slingshot, we could have just done our version of the Fastball Special…"

And then the bolo wrapped around Cyborg, Sizzle having taken the time to get a lock on him.

"Ah nosenuggets." Cyborg said, and then the balls at the end of the bolo ignited and blitzed him with a weird energy. To a ghost this would have been extremely harmful, maybe even fatal. To Cyborg, it was merely like getting electrocuted again...except this time all his systems went into a chaotic mess and his jets konked out again, even as the crazy messages screaming through his neurons and circuits caused him, if not pain, immense discomfort.

"OH GOD!" Cyborg yelled, as he plummeted to the ground. "AHHHHHH! THIS COULDN'T BE ANY WORSE!"

CRASH!

"I WAS WRONG!"

Sizzle watched Savior fly at her and then dip under her field of vision as he flew under the helicopter and grabbed one of the landing struts near the back. From there, Savior planned to pierce into the underbelly and pull himself to the weapons, which he could yank off and hence remove the helicopter as an effective offensive weapon. Then they just had to give Sizzle the runaround until one of the Titans could run back to the school, fetch the special Thermos, and…

The metal was denying his efforts to pierce it. Savior frowned and tried again, but his sentient energy simply would not go through the armor.

But Savior was nothing if not quick on his feet: if he couldn't dig in, then he'd get sticky fingers, so to speak, as the sharp ended Shimmer lines removed themselves from the underside and blossomed out into a rough bowl shape, making a perfect suction cup that stuck to the underside. Savior quickly formed four such appendages and pulled himself right up against the helicopter's underside…and good thing, as half a second later the body of the machine coursed with electricity again. Unfortunately for Sizzle, the only part of Savior's body touching the actual aircraft was the Shimmer, and as longtime readers know, the Shimmer didn't conduct electricity.

Still, hanging upside down to a whirling moving craft wasn't the most comforting thing, as Savior tried to get his bearings and pull himself over to the weapons. More electricity zapped through the framework, but none of it got to Savior.  
"Fuck! Fucking shit! Fucking shit-eating bastard!" Sizzle snarled, as her constant pressing of the ship's structural tazer refused to disgorge the bogey on her underside. "YOU ARE WORTHLESS!"

"Would you like to activate second perimeter defense?" The computer asked.

"Will it work?"

"There is a…"

"Yes, fine, whatever!"

"Acknowledged."

"All right, just another…" Savior was saying, when it happened.

Six ports opened up on the underside of the helicopter.

And out came what looked like mechanical ants. Armed with miniature saw blades, flamethrowers, and tasers. Savior's eyes widened. "HOLY SHIT!"

The tiny droids attacked, and Savior found himself deluged: they were fragile and easy to smash, and their weapons were so small they could hardly hurt him…but there was roughly twenty billion of them, or so it seemed, and they were everywhere, as Savior thrashed, yelled, and used every type of Shimmer trick to keep them off him and away from sensitive body parts that wouldn't do well to be sliced, zapped, or flambéed. Sizzle heard the yelling and chuckled merrily.

"I swear, when this is done, I am going to rip off…" Raven was saying, as Starfire tried to ascertain a way to free her from the glob of glue that had stuck her to the ground.

"Um…ok…let's try…" Starfire said, as she grabbed around Raven's feet. All she did was get her hands stuck again, and she had to pull them free, her palms starting to get raw.

"Can I help?" Came a voice, and Starfire looked up to see Danny, who had apparently decided to check how they were as the helicopter was, at the time, tied up with trying to zap Savior.

"Yes! Go see through and…" Raven began.

"I can't." Danny replied. "Sizzle zapped me with some kind of power blocker. I can't access my intangibility power." Danny said, holding up his hands and looking sorrowful. Raven's eyes showed murder once again, though not directed towards Danny.

"Then I guess I have no choice." Starfire said, as she again shoved her hands into the glue. "I did not want to try this unless I had to, as the degree of fine control is rather severe, but Raven…I am sorry if I burn your clothes off."

"WHAT?" Raven yelled, but it was too late as Starfire fired off a Starbolt and sent a great wash of heat rippling through the glue, drying it out so quickly that it instantly became as brittle as a potato chip, the powerful adhesive shattering and spraying the three with bits of itself. Coughing, Raven floated up, her clothes singed by still intact.

"Sorry." Starfire said, smiling a slight, sheepish smile.

"I'm going to kill her." Raven just replied, referring to Sizzle. "I don't know how with her already being dead, but I am going to…"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHRGGGHHHHHHHH!" Savior shouted as his efforts to ward off the mecha-ants finally made him lose his grip on the Fenton-copter and he fell. Raven looked at the noise and waved her hand, and a black claw of energy emerged from the ground and caught the teen…for a second, just enough so that his fall went from "surely doomed" to "painful", and then the hand disappeared, causing Savior to thunk to the ground.

"Ow." He said, and then he resumed his previous task of making sure there wasn't a single micro-droid on him. Raven, meanwhile, flew up with Danny and Starfire, as Sizzle finally returned her attention to them.

"Oh, back for more, huh?" Sizzle said, and fired off three whirling bolos. The flyers dodged them.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven chanted, as she thrust out her hands, eyes a glowing ebony, as dark power began to envelop the helicopter as Raven tried to seize control of it and force it to the ground.

It didn't work, as the dark power abruptly blew off and Raven was sent backwards like she had been struck, a loud grunting yell escaping from her.

"That damn shielding. It's not just blocking your abilities Danny, it's blocking anything supernatural at…" And that was as far as Raven got as the bolo suddenly whirled around her. "NOT AGAIN!"

Raven didn't get any shock: apparently that was a feature that only applied to some bolos, but being wrapped up as tight as a mummy made her briefly lose her concentration and she fell, stopping herself twenty feet down and seizing the tough bolo ropes to try and yank them off of her. Starfire and Danny, meanwhile, attacked, blasting the helicopter with their respective talents in the hopes they could make a dent in the thing and hence damage the shield and eventually disable it. If they were getting anywhere, they didn't know, as the small anti-personal cannons flipped open and opened fire on them. Danny, not used to aerial ballet fanciness, took a blast in the shoulder and was sent whirling away, while Starfire proved to be luckier: she managed to blow up two of the small weapons. Sizzle was losing her temper again, as she fiddled with switch after switch and was informed that she had already exhausted that supply of weapon.

"Damn it! I need…"

The car, encased in black power, flew up and slammed into the helicopter's underside, causing it to lurch and sway, and Danny felt his heart go into his throat, but he understood that they couldn't back down and that the Titans would do everything to avoid harming his mother, even though Starfire didn't currently look like she was averring to that creed as she had thrown her hands over her head to charge a massive Starbolt, one that she let loose into the side of the helicopter with a scream. The explosion rocked the vehicle and sent it flying to the side…but once again, the only real damage was a scorch mark. And considering that Starfire had put so much power behind the blast that she had been sent flying backwards, almost out of control…

"Damn it! What the hell is that thing made of, adamantium?" Raven cursed.

"Wrong universe." Danny said as she joined his side. "You think we're doing any damage to the shield?"

"I don't know, let's find out." Raven said, as her eyes glowed again. "AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS!" she yelled, and fired off a blast of black power.

"Um, AH-LAH PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICHES!" Danny yelled lamely, and fired his own green blast of power.

The twin shots deflected off the barrier. Yep, it was still there and still holding tough…though Danny and Raven were too far away to get the "back times three" effect, and its occupant couldn't really appreciated the great deal of protection it was offering.

"What is ON this piece of SHIT that will DESTROY THOSE GODDAMN TITANS AND THAT FUCKING BOY!" Sizzle snarled.

"Assessing your request madam…would you like to begin preparing the Fenton Ghost Obliterator again?"

Sizzle looked at the computer.

"Excuse me?"

"The Fenton Ghost Obliterator is the most powerful weapon on board. It will destroy virtually any spectral threat and can do serious harm to living things as well, regretfully."

Sizzle was smiling again.

"Arm it."

"Yes Mrs. Fenton."

Raven was regrouping near Danny when the guns that had fired the bolos, glob balloons, and special spirit destroying missiles split apart and began folding down and out, as something new began to emerge.

"Somehow I doubt that's good." Raven said as a new, very large cannon unfolded from underneath the Fenton-copter.

"Then why don't we get bad?" Danny said, as spectral fire exploded on his hands. Raven nodded, and the two made a dash for the Fenton Ghost Obliterator. Raven gambled that the shielding was focused more around protecting the occupant and vital parts of the machine, and that the weapons relied more on the armor. If that was the case, they might not be able to destroy the gun, but they could damn sure mess it up…

If Maddie Fenton hadn't already thought of that beforehand. She really was a smart woman. And so was Sizzle, when she wasn't utterly consumed with insane rage, as she had finally began poking through Maddie Fenton's head and pulling out the exact operating schematics of the F.U.M.B.L.E.

"Activate Fenton DD's!" Sizzle ordered, and a new panel opened that offered a few new buttons. Sizzle pressed three.

Several panels opened on the Fenton-copter as the two flew in, and the Titan and Phantom stopped dead as objects were ejected from the panels. Expecting an attack, the two immediately switched from offensive to defensive, as Danny threw up a shield and Raven cloaked herself in black power…

Wrong kind of defense, as Sizzle closed her eyes.

The Fenton DD's were one of the things that, despite the name Fenton on it, was a device created by someone else that had undergone very slight, if any, modifying. The DD's stood for Distraction Devices, non-lethal weaponry.

That, however, didn't help Danny at all, as they were designed to disable regardless.

And they did this by, in the course of detonation, generating 170 decibels of noise and 2.3 million candlepower of light.

Which, to those who need an equivalent metaphor…was like a space shuttle engine going off in Danny's face.

Danny screamed as he flew backwards, not even hearing his own cry of anguish as his vision was consumed in white. He clawed at his eyes, but all that remained was white, as Sizzle, safe in her soundproofed cockpit and with her eyes tightly closed and turned away, opened them, smiling contently at the agonizing boy, as the Fenton Ghost Obliterator finished arming and began to charge, the crosshairs locking on the thrashing ghost child.

And then Raven was on the attack again, swooping out from her cloak of darkness, but Sizzle had expected that, expected Raven's innate power to protect her better, and she was ready, as Maddie Fenton had prepared well, as twin short arms extended from either side of the cockpit and opened up to reveal strange mirror-like devices. The energy shield that blocked Danny's powers, as well as Raven's and probably others, operated on the principle of absorbing the energy and reflecting it back in an amplified state. But it could do more then that, as Raven raised her arms, ready to hammer on the Fenton Ghost Obliterator with telekinetic blasts, and the panel of buttons Sizzle had just been pressing opened again to reveal a much larger one.

Sizzle smirked.

"Ladies and GERMS, this is your captain speaking, please buckle in, we will be experiencing, TURBULENCE." Sizzle said, and pressed the new button, which was inexplicably labeled BONUS.

There was a brief flicker that showed an outline of power around the front of the helicopter, power that drained off into the mirrors and then fired them back out, as Raven gasped in surprise, and that was all she had time to do as the mirrors siphoned energy off the shield and fired it at Raven, striking her like a sledgehammer and sending her flying uncontrollably through the air…and smashing right into Danny Phantom, the still blinded and deafened boy screaming in surprise and some fear as Raven crashed into him and the two flew along the sky a bit more, all tangled up, as the Fenton Ghost Obliterator finished charging.

"A girl, a boy. One killed me, one has to die." Sizzle said, as she flipped open the firing button. "C'est juste."

And a powerful glow erupted around the front of the gun, as Raven finally collected her bearings and turned around…

And a gigantic blast of whitish blue energy flew from the firearm, zapping across the sky, filling Raven's vision as her eyes widened, even as Danny stared uncomprehendingly as the shifty white blur he could see became a shifty BRIGHT white blur…

"NO!"

And then Starfire flew in, shoving the two to safety…at terrible cost, as she replaced their targeted form with her own.

Raven could have sworn she could see the blast reflected in Starfire's green eyes, side by side with the fear.

And then the explosion rang through the air, a huge surge of energy erupting and throwing Danny and Raven away again, even as Starfire's scream was swallowed by the boom. Raven managed to stop herself and grabbed Danny with an energy talon, even as she saw a smoking form fly out of the explosion at high speed and go off into the horizon, the body falling limply off in the distance like a puppet with its strings cut.

"AH DAMMIT FUCK! FUUUCCCKKKK!" Sizzle screamed. "Begin recharge!"

"Mrs. Fenton, the cannon must…"

"DO IT!"

"Yes Ma'am." The computer replied, and began recharging the strained weapon.

"Oh Kory…" Raven said. She knew Kory wasn't dead: she was still feeling the girl, inside her, due to her unique emotion abilities, and if Kory was dead, the void would have been sudden and profound…but the alien girl was in deep pain. She had guesstimated, correctly, that her body would take the blast better then Danny and Raven's, and given herself up so that they would be spared serious, possible fatal wounds.

"What happened…" Danny said, shaking his head, his vision finally starting to return but far from perfect.

"Kory's down. Because she saved us." Raven said, and looked at Danny with a serious gaze, and to make sure he heard her despite his damaged ears, she spoke with her mind as well as her mouth. "Don't let what she endured be in vain."

"Hell no." Came a new voice, as Cyborg floated up next to the two, a little worse for wear but apparently fixed.

"Is that Cyborg? Where is he?" Danny said, looking around. Cyborg gave Raven a wry, "what's with this?" glance: Raven just did a brief motion to indicate Danny's eyes were messed up: after fighting together for several years people could learn to understand each other with a minimal amount of effort.

"Damn. Ok Danny, listen up. Whatever you hear, we'll do everything in our power to help your mother." Cyborg said. "Rae, I'm going to hit that thing HARD: be ready to try and grab Danny's mom before the thing disintegrates or explodes."

"Understood." Raven said, as Danny looked in her general direction, his eyes now making out a black blur against a blueish blur, but before he could make any comment whatsoever Cyborg had flown forward.

"Cannon will be recharged in ten seconds." The computer informed Sizzle, even as she looked at Cyborg with an air of interest.

"Ok, if this doesn't do something, nothing will." Cyborg said, and then his chest snapped open. He kept the more powerful missiles in there, and for this, he had pulled out something special. "Drillers, away!"

Six modified missiles fired out, aimed at parts of the helicopter, their ends whirling with special razor sharp drill tips. Sizzle saw them coming, looked at them for a bit…and then smirked.

The missiles slammed into the Fenton-copter. There was a brief, very brief sound, that sounded like a gigantic sewing machine getting jammed up, and then the missiles vanished in a brief puff of smoke and fire.

Cyborg gaped: the missiles had hit the armor and been unable to pierce it, their forward momentum crushing them out of operation within a second of said failure.

"Those missiles were tipped with DIAMOND." Cyborg said, in a true this ain't fair tone.

"I was right. It IS made out of adamantium." Raven said dryly.

"Or some kind of super alloy." Cyborg said. In her cockpit, Sizzle was chuckling to herself as she locked onto Danny and Raven again. Danny, whose eyesight was about 80 back by now, gaped.

"We have to…" he began.

"No." Raven said, holding onto him. "We can't move."

"Why not?" Danny said. Raven pointed. Danny looked.

And realized just where they were. The battle hadn't been stuck in one place: the Titans, Danny, and Sizzle had been gradually moving along…and they were just about to hit the small developed cluster in Amity Park, the section in which rested several blocks of tall buildings, including a few skyscrapers. One of which was at the trio's back.

And Danny understood. If they moved, the blast would hit the building, and cause god knows what kind of damage. Hell, it might be the equivalent of crashing…Danny didn't want to think of that.

"Ahhh! Uh, quick, stop it up!" Danny yelled/suggested.

"Too late." Cyborg said. "Anyone else got another plan?"

"If not we have about three seconds to think one up." Raven said as the glow around the cannon increased.

"Not enough time." Cyborg said, and then he flew forward. Raven blinked.

"Cyborg? What are you doing?"

"That thing's energy shield didn't block me. Maybe the same can be said about its big gun." Cyborg said. "MOVE!"

"But…"

"I SAID…!"

"Well, the robot wants to die as well. Three times the charm!" Sizzle said, as the computer informed her that the cannon was charged again. She flipped open the firing switch.

"Cyborg…!" Raven said apprehensively.

"Too late!" Cyborg said, as he held his hands out.

The Fenton Ghost Obliterator fired again, the blast locked onto Danny and Raven, and striking Cyborg since he was in front of them. He growled in effort as the beam struck him and pushed him back, the energy spraying out around him as he tried to block it, but the beam wasn't fading and Cyborg's growl began to verge on a scream as he tried to keep the blast away from Danny, Raven, and any innocents.

"Damn it!" Raven said as she flew forward. She'd be damned if Cyborg was going to take the full brunt of the blow if she could help it.

"No…Raven….stay away…!" Cyborg cursed as she flew in.

"Forget it! Azarath Metrion…!"

And Raven learned the hard way why Cyborg wanted her to keep her distance: the laser's energy stream nature caused Cyborg's blocking of the beam to be similar to someone trying to stop a tap by holding your finger to it. Despite your efforts, water is going to come out, by going around the blockage. And the same was happening with the beam: it had split into several weaker streams that were being directed into the ground, into the air…and one offshoot right into Raven's form, a scream coming from her throat as she was slammed with another wrecking ball blow and thrown backwards, this time completely losing her concentration and plummeting to the ground. Danny, had his eyes been perfect, would have caught her…but his still recovering optical orbs were not yet up to the task of discerning certain objects against dark backgrounds, and so Danny lost sight of her and could only hear her yell before she hit the ground like a stone and the yelling cut off. Danny's heart sank, even as Cyborg's voice built to an utter roar of pain, anger, and defiance: you ain't MOVING ME BEE-YOTCH.

And Sizzle didn't, as the beam suddenly cut off, as Sizzle yelled in her cockpit as the controls erupted in sparks. Cyborg lowered his arms, his front badly scorched but apparently undamaged, as he took deep breaths. But his face was a picture of savage contentment.

"Boo-yah! Your stupid ghost weapons can't harm me, you nutcase!" Cyborg yelled.

Then his jets konked out again.

"Fuck." Cyborg said, and found himself in freefall again. Had Sizzle been in a better state she might have taken a shot at Cyborg's falling form, but she was too busy trying to correct the spin her helicopter had suddenly started as the controls went haywire due to Sizzle's utter lack of gentleness in her commands to the gear she was using. She cursed, spat, and tried to plumb the brain of her host to figure out how to fix the problem before the boy fully recovered and went on the offense. She was going to kill him this time, oh yes, if she had to ram the actual helicopter down his throat…

Danny, again, would have helped Cyborg…except his eyes were, as mentioned, messed up. So all he could do was look around frantically and hear Cyborg yell…

Before white lines sprang up and caught the robot, stopping him. Cyborg came to a halt, and then yelped as Savior dumped him, not so gently, on the ground. At least it was in a small park and not on the street, as Savior rose up next to Danny on a Shimmer-formed ladder, the white energy perfectly balanced as it propelled Savior up. He'd checked on Raven when she had fallen, and having noted she and Cyborg, once his momentum was interrupted, would be ok, Savior quickly returned to the battle, as he slid up beside Danny. Not the nicest thing to do, but Savior had always thought strategically overall.

"That you Savior?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, how'd you guess?" Savior said sarcastically.

"Well, a big white blur on a blue background…not hard." Danny said. Savior looked at Danny oddly. "What's going on?"

"Kinda obvious. Or are you blind?" Savior said, his question serious rather then snarkily rhetorical.

"Sizzle detonated some light bombs, my eyes…"

"Gotcha. Hold still." Savior said. Danny didn't get a chance to ask why for, as he suddenly felt an intense pressure in his ear and then his vision suddenly cleared up like his eyes was a camera being focused. The sudden return to normalcy was actually quite disorienting, as Danny yelped and then blinked several times.

"There. That better?" Savior asked.

"What did you do?"

"Hacked into your neural network and sped up the rewiring of your brain. This thing as a lot of uses." Savior said, commenting on the Shimmer that had, in the past twenty seconds, served as a medical device, a cushion, a brace, a lifter, and another medical quick fix. Danny would have complained about Savior's rather insensitive actions when it came to his body…except Savior was no longer paying attention to him, but the helicopter, which appeared to finally be coming under control

"We have to stop this now, before it gets into the city." Savior said, reaching under his coat. "Here Danny." He continued as he pulled something out and tossed it at Danny. Danny barely managed to catch it. He looked at it: the Mini Fenton Ghost Catcher his father had rigged up.

"Here's the plan. I think that shield and that big gun draw power from the same places. Considering how messed up the helicopter just was, I think the shield is lessened. I'm going to throw myself over there and hit the front as hard as I can, which will hopefully break through the shield AND the cockpit. When I do that, you fly in and start zapping. Once we get Sizzle out of your mother and her to safety, I'll run back to the school and get the Thermos, you'll be on your own then. Possibly until I get back. If you have a better plan, you have five seconds to say it, because Sizzle's righted herself and looks to be charging up that gun again."

"Mrs. Fenton, power reserves are dangerously low. Any attempt to fire the Fenton…" The computer was saying.

"Shut the FUCK up." Sizzle growled, and the computer listened. Well, if she only had one more shot at this, she was going to make it count.

"That's not good." Danny moaned as he saw the cannon light up again.

"Actually it may very well be. On my mark Danny." Savior said, but Danny didn't even get a chance to prepare as Savior immediately yelled "NOW!" and grabbed Danny with a Shimmer line, using Danny's body to propel himself forward (and throwing the lighter then Cyborg kid backwards) as he threw back his arms, the Shimmer forming into a vaguely defined but still immensely powerful bludgeon. Sizzle's eyes widened as the teen flew in and slashed his weapons down.

And found his plan had been right everywhere except the first assumption: the shield and gun DIDN'T draw on the same power supply. Maddie Fenton was, as mentioned, smarter then that, and Savior's plan bit the hand that created it as the Shimmer hit the shield and all the power Savior had put behind the blow was reflected back at him threefold.

"AHHHHHHHHHH FUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKK!" Savior screamed, as he was thrown off into the horizon much like Starfire, even as Danny recovered and watched as the last standing Titan disappeared off into the distance. It was ironic that the plan Savior had had included heading back to Casper High to look for the Thermos: the energy backlash had somehow tossed him in that direction.

"Sorry asshole. But bigger doesn't always mean better." Sizzle said, and contently locked onto Danny for the third and final time. Now he had no more shields to block or protect him, and he couldn't turn intangible to avoid it. And if he just moved, well, that was why the robot had taken the blast when he and his fellows could have just moved then: they didn't want to get anyone hurt. Sizzle had no such qualms: all men had to die anyway, and if a few females went with them, well, you couldn't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

Danny watched as the cannon's glow increased, and in his own way, he knew what Sizzle was thinking. He pondered all his options, and the one that kept being presented to him was to run away. The cannon was designed to destroy ghosts, it had barely affected Cyborg, skyscrapers were mostly metal, they'd be ok…

Except he knew that was an excuse. Maybe the blast wouldn't destroy the building, but who knew what it would do to the people. No, he couldn't run. And since he didn't want to die, that left one option.

Stand.

"All right then…" Danny said, his voice cold and serious as his eyes glowed green. His stuck the Mini Ghost Catcher into his boot, and then his hands erupted with power. "Come on you gruesome hag, you want to kill me so bad, I'm not going anywhere."

"Cannon charged. Warning, overheating, all systems…" The computer said.

Sizzle pressed the button.

The third Fenton Ghost Obliterator shot fired out.

And Danny screamed as he let loose with his own ectoplasmic blast, the two energy eruptions flying out and meeting. Danny felt the backlash through his entire being, but he refused to yield, refused to give, refused to stop in any form as he poured everything he had into the blast and Sizzle did likewise, Danny's intense look of determination matched only by her insane one…

The blast exploded between the two of them, as neither side was able to gain an advantage and hence chose to die together, as Danny was sent flying backwards like a comet and a feedback of power sent the Fenton-copter into another crazy spasm, Sizzle screaming and turning the air blue as she failed again, even as Danny hit the glass of the skyscraper with such force he nearly went through the extremely tough material, a huge spider web of cracks spraying out as his form was driven three inches into the substance.

Danny gasped, twitched, and then went limp from exhaustion, the small indent he had made somehow holding his body up against the window as he slumped down.

"Fucking boy! Fucking boy! FUCKING BOY!" Sizzle screamed as she wrestled with the controls. "Charge again!"

"Fenton Ghost Obliterator has overloaded madam. It cannot be fired again."

"Fuck! Arm whatever's left!"

"That would be nothing madam. You have exhausted all projectile weaponry and drained all energy from other weapons. There are no more anti-supernatural weapons available."

Sizzle looked down, in the way some people do just before they blew a gasket, which was what Sizzle was going to do: she was going to scream and then she was going to leave this helicopter with the thanks it deserved: an explosive exit that would destroy it and her current host, but she didn't care, there were plenty of fish in the sea and she was going to kill that…

"Would you like to eject Fenton weapons and arm original weapons?" The computer enquired.

Sizzle looked up.

"What?"

"In order for the Fenton Ultimate Mobile Ballistics Logistics Equalizer to function at optimum level, the original weapons of the AH-64D Longbow Apache were modified so the Fenton weapons could be built over them. Would you like to remove Fenton weapons and arm original weapons?"

"What kind of original weapons?" Sizzle asked, and to her great surprise a green holographic screen appeared on the cockpit before her, on which appeared several schematics of the helicopter she was flying, which quickly zoomed in on the weapons.

"Weaponry of original Longbow Apache…M230 33mm automatic chain gun armed with 1200 rounds of depleted uranium shells…16 AGM-114 Hellfire missiles…4 AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles…one reload barrel of chain gun ammo, 1200 rounds. 84 reload Hellfire and Sidewinder missiles also on board in special holding compartments. This aircraft was specially modified to reload in mid-air. Would you like to re-arm original weapons?"

There was that horrible smile again.

"Yes. Oh hell, yes."

"Acknowledged."

Groaning, Danny came groggily back to life, his vision finally clearing, though there was still a ringing in his ears. His whole body ached, pain shooting through every fiber of his being, as he managed to pull himself off the window, shards of glass pulling small strips from his costume as he tried to form a coherent thought. But that was highly difficult as his body kept telling him that he had just about had it. Whatever had blessed him with what he had demonstrated today was great, but after yesterday's intense battle, on top of everything he had done today, he wouldn't be able to stay in ghost form much longer…

And then Danny saw something that made him forget all about his exhaustion.

With a loud snapping noise, several of the parts that had clearly been modified by his parents fell off the helicopter. For a moment Danny panicked and though Sizzle had pushed the custom-designed vehicle too far and now it was going to fall apart…and when it didn't, he was filled with a new worry as he knew something bad was going to happen.

He didn't know if not knowing or knowing made it worse.

"Wha…"

Inside the cockpit, several of the custom panels that had come out so Sizzle could use the anti-ghost weaponry were being tucked away, even as the stick she had used to fly the Fenton-copter and fire its weapons was reprogramming itself for its old weapons…weapons that began to emerge.

Danny's eyes widened.

"Oh no."

Apache wings are usually rather thin: the Fentons had severely bulked them up in order to hold their new weapons. Now a good chunk of that bulk was gone, as four sets of new, larger struts emerged, folding themselves out. A few seconds later, several sets of small mechanical arms folded out from the wings, reached up, and came down holding a missile which they inserted into the strut, quickly arming sixteen of the deadly projectiles in the four four-way rails. Two more bits of the Fenton-copter broke off the end of the wings, revealing four more missiles, two on each wing, on smaller launchers, even as the space that had been occupied by the Fenton Ghost Obliterator got a new occupant: the chain gun, designed to fire 625 rounds a minute, rounds designed to go through 100 mm of modern tank armor. Normally, the Apache would need another co-pilot to act as gunner to fire that gun…except Maddie and Jack had modified that need away if it was necessary.

A few more superfluous parts broke off, revealing the new Fenton-copter: no longer a weapon specialized to hunt ghosts, but instead a weapon of mass destruction with its sights locked onto a ghost.

Who, may I remind you, had had his intangibility power turned off. But don't worry, that was due to wear off…in about 18 minutes.

Danny Phantom, at the moment, probably didn't have 18 seconds, as he made a small noise of fear in his throat as he realized that Sizzle was still coming at him…deadlier then ever, because unlike the previous sets of weapons, these ones would tear through ANYTHING in their way.

"Lock on target." Sizzle said: the transformation had kept the shield and computer, and that was all Sizzle needed.

"Madam, the Hellfire missiles were designed as anti-tank weapons. I am not sure…"

"Is it possible to lock onto target with fair degree of accuracy?" Sizzle replied, highly aggravated at all this nonsense. If she didn't need it, she'd have fried the computer a while ago.

"…Well yes, the AGM-114D Longbow Hellfire missile possesses a millimeter wave seeker, which has given the projectiles the nickname of "fire and forget" weapons…"

"Good. Then FIRE the weapon and FORGET about bugging me any more!" Sizzle snapped.

"Yes Madam. Finalizing lock."

"Help?" Danny said, looking around for any of the Titans.

He found no one.

He was on his own.

And he doubted he could block what was coming with an ectoplasmic shield.

"Now boy…" Sizzle said, as she thrust her thumb up. "Let me reiterate. START YOUR SCREAMING!"

And eight of the missiles ignited and fired off their launchers, heading straight for Danny Phantom.

Whose name might soon have to be changed to Danny Vapor.


	10. In Flagrante Ira: Infernal Machine

Chapter 10: Infernal Machine

"Power, like a desolating pestilence,  
Pollutes whate'er it touches."

-Shelley, _Queen Mab_, III

If reality, Danny didn't have much of a choice.

Well, he technically had three.

1) Go Intangible. This option was moot from the start as Danny's intangibility had been disabled by the Fenton-copter's weaponry, and even if it hadn't been, going intangible would have been a moot point anyway because if the missiles didn't hit him, they'd hit the building behind him, and considering Danny had been willing to sacrifice a great deal of his energy to stop the Fenton Ghost Obliterator from hitting the building, he certainly couldn't let eight highly destructive missiles hit it: the results would probably be far far worse.

2) Die. That was pretty much out of the question as well.

3) What he chose to do.

So, as you can see, as the missiles bore down on him, Danny Phantom really only had one choice.

Gandalf said it best.

**_FLY, YOU FOOL!_**

And Danny did so, as he gathered what little energy he had left and soared up, his nobler side hoping that the missiles followed him, which was immediately drowned out by his survival instincts yelling at his nobler side about what would happen if the missiles did follow him, and then the missiles actually started curving up to follow Danny and the boy managed to batten down the screaming primitive fears enough to do some thinking.

But not much, as the missiles had about 4000 pounds of thrust behind them and that allowed them to move considerably faster then Danny could. Then again, as mentioned, Hellfire missiles were technically air to surface weapons, designed to hit targets on the ground: despite their great lock on system, they really weren't meant to go chasing a target into the air. Now, why doesn't Danny use this and do some aerial fanciness until the missiles screwed up? The same reason Danny was flying into the air in the first place: even if he lost the missiles, they had to hit something. And that something would most likely be buildings filled with people.

So Danny was, for the moment, doing his own flying by the seat of his pants, as he flew high up into the air and started flying backwards, as the missiles began to curve towards him. Gritting his teeth, Danny ignited spectral fire on his hands, and as the first missile began to close in, he thrust out his hands and began firing.

Blast after blast slammed into the missile, causing it to stumble and then violently lurch, and Danny's heart leapt into his throat as he became afraid the missile would just lose its rocket booster and plummet into the heart of Amity Park…and then it exploded. Danny felt a brief surge of relief, which magnified when the second missile, which was right on the first one's tail, flew into the immediate explosion and was prematurely detonated by the heat. Danny would have let out a whoop, except there were still six missiles left, and they were farther behind: by the time they reached the spot where their first two fellows had met their ends, the explosions had dissipated enough to prevent the remaining six from being blown as well, and Danny yelped and kicked it into high gear again as the missiles flew after him, getting closer much quicker then he had expected. And despite his fear-driven air dash, they were gaining on him.

Peering up through the cockpit, Sizzle looked at the destruction of the first two missiles almost quizzingly. Looking down, she thought for a few seconds, and then glanced at the radar that showed Danny's position. Seeing what was happening, she smirked a bit, and then her helicopter turned slightly and she flew off in a different direction.

Leaving? Hardly. But Sizzle had been running on such high-octane screaming fury for so long that she had finally burned herself out, the insane rage finally being replaced by a colder, more refined wrath. True, it probably wouldn't take long for Sizzle's flames to fire up again…but at the moment, she was actually rather calm in her thinking process. Which was still to destroy Danny Phantom, but instead of just throwing stuff at him until he finally died, Sizzle was actually forming a strategy. She'd relied too much on the computer in this machine (indeed, some of you have wondered how Sizzle got into the Fenton-copter with there being a shield. The answer is, the shield was not turned on at that point: normally Maddie Fenton would have turned it on in advance, but she had, as you recall, been in a very offensive shoot them all and let God sort them out mindset, and it had slipped her mind. However, her computer had picked up the slack, as it had told her it had read the Fenton-copter actually beginning to attack and enquired if Maddie wanted to turn the shield on. Unfortunately, it was Sizzle in the driver's seat when that request had occurred, after she had launched the first volley of Spectral Destroyers, and Sizzle had just reacted by flipping the offered switch and resuming her "Die boy die" frame of mind. Considering how useful the shield had turned out to be, you can see what I mean about Sizzle just reacting and not thinking. On a side note, I rarely make these needed-to-be-retconned plot discrepancies, but hey, pobody's nerfect), she needed to actually think her way around destroying the boy. And she'd had an idea after watching his actions on the radar.

Said action was perhaps the hardest choice Danny had ever had to make in his life, one that could potentially haunt his dreams for the rest of his days, but Danny was, despite his gift/change/mutation/whatever the ghost portal had done to him, still human, and humans want to survive.

Danny had quickly discerned he couldn't outrun the missiles, and he had also discerned he couldn't stop and shoot at the missiles again because chances were one of them would get him before he got all of them. He'd tried shooting at them while on the move, but no dice: he couldn't aim well enough going at the speed he was going at to properly hit the missiles. And he couldn't wait around for one of the Titans to help: they might, but they also might not, and Danny didn't have the time.

So, he could do two things.

Stop, let the missiles hit him, and nobly give his life to ensure the missiles didn't harm his town. Which was pointless as Sizzle was still flying around and if he died with the Titans down they'd be nothing to stop her from turning her wrath on Amity Park.

Or, he could get the missiles out of the way by getting them to hit something else.

And the moral anguish was, there was nothing good he could crash them into. There were no nearby parks or abandoned districts he could reach before the missiles got him, nothing he could scapegoat with no risk, and if he tried to fly off and find one, the missiles would most likely get him before he could. He had to either crash the missiles into a building, which as previously mentioned was out of the question…or a street, and hope against hope that he avoided doing too much damage…or killing anyone.

And with six missiles needed to get rid of…the odds were against him.

A rock and a hard place.

The devil and the deep blue sea.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

It shows the character of a man, or a woman, if they can actually make a choice like this.

Danny did.

As he dove towards the ground, blocking out the horrors he could cause with the cold rationale he needed to do this.

And perhaps, finally, fate reached out and gave him a small blessing.

As he happened to see that a four way intersection between several tall buildings was relatively clear of cars. If he flew nearly straight down, the missiles should curve to the point where they would all hit the intersection of the four empty streets…but he knew it wouldn't be empty long, and this was probably the best chance he was going to get.

So down he went, the wind making his eyes water, even as his body reminded him he was beat, but Danny didn't care, he had to do this…the missiles _were_ following him…but they were also getting even closer…was the grouping they were in tight enough to avoid hitting any buildings? Danny didn't have time to stop and figure it out, as he flew down between said buildings, drawing close to his target.

He flew over a car heading for the intersection, and he managed to turn and fire a blast at the hood, the car swerving when the relatively harmless to metal attack hit the hood, the cars behind it stopping in a scream of brakes. That helped take them out of danger, hopefully, and Danny managed to steal a glance upward. The missiles were coming, and they hadn't hit any buildings, but they were right on top of him and he was turning and putting everything he had into it as he flew and he saw some people and he fired at them to get them to run and then he was at the intersection and he had to look but there was no time he had to move as he dashed to one side and found cars coming…

The first missile hit where Danny had just been, and Danny felt an immense blow of heat and force slam into his back and propel him forward, and then the second missile hit and the third and the shockwaves were making him tumble through the air and sizzling bits of metal were slamming into his back and legs and he was bleeding and…

Danny slammed end first into the car windshield, smashing right through it as the male occupant screamed, even as the last of the missiles hit the ground and turned the four-sided street into a level of hell, fire and smoke exploding upward as windows shattered and nearby parked cars detonated as red hot bits of shrapnel pierced through their frames and people were thrown to the ground or went there on their own as the explosion blasted through their eardrums, even as the car Danny had crashed into swerved and found itself heading for a storefront window, a window the front end crashed into, Danny flying through a storm of glass and somehow not getting cut to ribbons as he flew into a bookcase and sent it crashing over, knocking over the following several rows like dominoes as one last wave of explosions and shrapnel rang through the streets.

And then silence.

Well, not really, but after the ear-rending noise of the explosions the dull crackle of fires and the screams, cries, and yells of people were almost akin to silence, as people got up, looked for loved ones, ran around, and generally acted like chickens with their heads cut off, as the center where Danny had directed the missiles burned brightly, belching huge clouds of smoke into the air.

Danny's eyes fluttered open, and for a moment he was amazed he was alive. Then his body reminded him there were downsides to that, as the exhaustion and ache came back full bore. But Danny toughed it out, as he rolled over, got to his knees, and somehow got to his feet. He was not aware of small pieces of metal falling out of his calves, thighs, buttocks, and back as he started staggering towards the hole the car had made, the bits of shrapnel being pushed out…by something. What? Who knew…all Danny wanted to know was if anyone was hurt, because that had been the curse of his plan, he so desperately didn't want anyone to be hurt…

An empty driver's seat and a blown air bag, as well as a lack of blood, at least assured Danny that the driver of the car had escaped, as Danny staggered past said car, limping and looking around. He saw people running, screaming, and yelling that the end of the world had come…but he didn't see anyone writhing on the ground, or worse, unmoving on the ground, even as he walked out onto the middle of the street, trying to see everywhere…

And then he stopped, needing air, suddenly very tired, almost to the point of wanting to go to sleep right there, but he couldn't, he had to see if everyone was all right, but then again, what could he do, he'd done everything he could have, and he could hear sirens…sirens, and no screams that sounded like agony…and…and…

Danny's mouth went dry as he heard the sound. The sound of helicopter blades.

And then it emerged, coming from the black smoke like an ancient demon from the pit, Sizzle flying the helicopter through the choking murk as Danny turned around, his eyes wide and pleading, but he knew there would be no mercy and Sizzle's cruel smile reflected that, as she moved one hand away from the main flying stick and to a new, smaller one.

"Oh no." Danny said.

The chain gun erupted, blasting out hot lead, and Danny found his body on autopilot, finding new stores of energy as he turned and ran for his life, even as the huge 30mm shells began striking the ground behind him and blowing small holes in it like each bullet was a small bomb, a line of mini-detonations that was chasing down Danny, as he tried to run with his limp even as he knew this was pointless he wasn't faster then a speeding bullet he had to fly to fly to…

Danny's body left the ground half a second before it would have been blown into several smaller pieces, as Danny flew down the street, even as people began screaming again and Sizzle, her smile fading as she shoved the helicopter forward, the aircraft flying off after Danny even as it shot at Danny, the chain gun ripping a line of devastation wherever the bullets hit.

Danny didn't counter-attack, and he didn't even bother yelling at people to get out of the way: he just blew them out of the way with spectral blasts if they were too close to him or if they didn't have enough sense to get out of the way themselves. Even so, Sizzle's bullets wrecked havoc, turning anything they touched into ruins: mailboxes, newsstands, fire hydrants, and a few cars that erupted into flame as the huge shells easily went through their frail metal forms, sparks igniting the gas tanks and causing more explosions, and as much as he wanted to Danny forced himself to fly on, because he knew the second he stopped Sizzle would reduce his form to bloody mist, but he was running out of room to fly as the road was coming to an end, turning to the left, and Danny instinctively turned and…

Stopped dead.

Unlike the previous street, this street was full of cars. And people.

And Sizzle was right behind him.

Literally, as Sizzle flew around the corner at a dangerous speed, barely turning and stopping before the side of the helicopter crashed into the building, the rotors barely missing the glass side of the skyscraper that would have shredded the motors and caused the vehicle to crash…most likely taking Maddie Fenton with it. However, the crazy move didn't exactly sit well with the helicopter, as Sizzle tried to turn it to properly face Danny and found it turning nearly 180 degrees instead. She cursed and spat, trying to get her machine back under control.

Danny took advantage.

"RUNNNNNN!" he screamed, hoping he could somehow be heard over the noise of the helicopter. He had some luck as the cars had stopped and people had actually started getting out to stare at this out of the ordinary sight, and then he started firing EE blasts again, trying to scare the people out of the way. It worked, somewhat, but what really worked was when Sizzle yanked the helicopter back the way it had been and overcompensated again, turning the helicopter in another 180 degree spiral (good thing the corner was REALLY large) even as she tried to fire at Danny again, but the chain gun was tilted too high and the blast went over Danny's head and exploded a line across the windows of one building and over to the other. THAT was enough to send the crowd into a full blown panic, which was bad in and of itself, but at least they had a chance, even as Danny fired a few more EE blasts to give people wings on their feet, and then he looked over his shoulder and gasped as Sizzle finally righted the helicopter. He couldn't stand still any longer.

"Now I have you!" Sizzle snarled, and opened fire again.

Danny took off as the chain gun blazed, and Sizzle followed. People screamed and ran for their lives as the chain gun tore through more cars, more explosions blasting through the street, but Danny had bought enough time for people to flee into the buildings and the subways, and that was all he could do as his body was now going from prodding to screaming that it had had enough. But Danny was ignoring that as the bullets were starting to catch up. Danny didn't want to fly up: if he put some distance between the two of them Sizzle could lock on more missiles and this time he knew he couldn't outrun them, and he doubted he'd get another spot to dispose of them. Instead, Danny started zig-zagging, trying to throw off the fact that Sizzle couldn't swivel the chain gun all that effectively without a co-pilot serving as gunner, but Sizzle just matched his move by flying back and forth across the street with him, getting dangerously close to the sides of the buildings each time but managing to avoid a crash. Part of this was the fact that Maddie Fenton was somewhat of a natural at being a helicopter pilot and the other part was that despite the great effectiveness of this weapon Sizzle was not afraid of crashing it. Why should she be? She couldn't die, she was already dead.

So she kept after Danny, the chain gun tearing through everything in its way, which was mostly cars (people? Who knew, Danny didn't have time to check), explosions, shrapnel, and worse nipping at Danny's heels as he fled, and he was coming to a T-section in the road, his route forward blocked by a tall building, he had to make another turn…

He stopped, looking right first…which was fortunate, as it allowed him to see immediately that it was the optimum way to go: there was no one in that direction. Instead, a line of cars went up the street to one of Amity Park's true skyscrapers…and Danny didn't have much time to ponder anything else as Sizzle was on his tail, as he flew down the road. There were no civilians: that was all that mattered.

After flying for a few seconds, Danny turned to look…and was surprised to find Sizzle wasn't still behind him. She must have gotten hung up somewhere…and after flying backwards a few more dozen feet, he stopped. He had a feeling he knew what was coming…

His whole body suddenly spasmed with pain, and Danny hunched over, his breath escaping in a gasp. It was worse then he thought. He couldn't keep it going much longer. But what could he do…

Sizzle emerged from the corner, and Danny somehow managed to shove the pain down as the helicopter again made a dangerous turn, nearly crashing into the building on its left side before Sizzle righted it. From her cockpit, Sizzle glared intensely at Danny. Danny matched her look, ready for what he was guesstimated she would do.

"The force is strong in this one." Sizzle muttered, and then wondered why she had said something like that as she locked onto Danny again.

"Please don't use all the remaining missiles." Danny said.

The rockets on the deadly projectiles ignited and flew at Danny…four of them. But Danny didn't have time to pat himself on the back for his correct guess: he still had to stop them, as his hands glowed brightly. His body screamed at him for the action, telling him that he was getting dangerously close to trying to get blood from a stone…but Danny didn't care. He had to save his mother, and to do that he had to stop Sizzle, and to do that…well, Danny honestly didn't have a clue, he was making this up as he went along.

Danny fired an ectoshot at the first missile, at a precise angle: the blast slammed into the nose and changed its pitch ever so slightly, which resulted in the missile nosediving into the street, blowing up two cars and sending several more up in flames. Danny was aware that Sizzle was coming up the street after her missiles, but he was more concerned as he started flying backwards. He couldn't aim well while doing this but he didn't need a direct hit for the second: just enough to send it off course. Three spectral blasts slammed into the missile before it lurched to the side and into an old building that was scheduled for demolition: the missile did the job for the city. Convenient, eh?

But Danny was out of strokes of luck, as well as almost out of room: he was backed up against the skyscraper, the branch of some big real estate business, nice building with a lovely fountain in the front. Danny couldn't pause to admire it though, as the third and forth missiles were almost there, and behind them, Sizzle, with a lot more where that came from.

Danny stopped where he was and concentrated fire on the third missile, several powerful blasts slamming into the weapon and finally causing it to explode in mid air. By now Danny's body felt like he was being dipped in acid, but he still had one more missile, as it punched through the fading flame cloud and flew in…

And Danny flew straight up at the last micro-second and fired his last bit of ectoplasmic energy downward, the shot slamming into the nose and sending the missile in a tailspin right down into the lovely fountain, which was reduced to not so lovely ruins as Danny flew up and away from the explosion, even as he began to feel light headed…

Sizzle's helicopter broke through the smoke cloud of the explosion, and she gasped and pulled up before she crashed into the skyscraper. The helicopter stopped…right under the ruins of the fountain…as several water pipes finally burst from the damage and a new fountain was born, right under Sizzle, the immediate water pressure so intense that it nearly flipped the helicopter upside down. Alarms sounded and sparks shot from the console as Sizzle screamed and dragged the spasming machine out of the water, as the computer warned that the water was in all kinds of places it shouldn't be, which was even more indicated by the fact that smoke had begun flowing from various parts of the aircraft.

"Damn ittttttttt……" Sizzle cursed, and even though the computer warned her not to, she put the helicopter in a steep ascent after Danny.

Who had just about hit the roof, and was lucky he didn't hit the building: his vision had begun blurring and splitting, and his muscles had actually gone beyond pain and gone totally numb, and even as Danny tried to figure out which way was up and which way was down, he floated over the edge of the building, staggered back and forth a little…

And then the circles appeared around Danny, and a second later Danny Fenton fell the few feet to the rooftop. He lay there, panting for a bit, before he realized what had happened.

"Oh no." He said, looking at his completely normal hands. "Oh no!"

Danny got up…

And Sizzle flew up beside the building, the helicopter engine noise roaring in Danny's ears, even as the wind blew him back, and he gasped and looked at the machine, eyes wide with fear.

Sizzle looked at the now human boy with curiosity.

"Well then, I guess the game is over." Sizzle said, as she began arming the last four missiles. The computer kept telling her that the lock-ons and struts were damaged, that the missiles would be wild, but Sizzle didn't much care. By now it was like shooting fish in a barrel.

Danny's head jerked over to a small shack. If he knew his skyscrapers, that shack led to the stairs that would take him into the actual building. And while he didn't know how safe he'd be in that, any port in a storm.

Danny started running frantically towards the shack.

Sizzle just shook her head: it figured it would end this way. Men, despite their claims to the contrary, didn't have much in the way of courage when faced with such a superior foe. Not to mention she was utterly sick of the boy, and she wanted him dead.

"So long fucker." Sizzle said, and fired the missiles. The struts sparked, but they launched Sizzle's four remaining Hellfire's, down at the roof Danny was running on.

Danny felt rather then heard the missiles coming.

"AHHHHHHHHHH NUUUUUUUUUTTTTSSSSSSSSSS!" Danny screamed, and then he was thrown off his feet and a huge cloud of dust and smoke enveloped him a second before the entire roof went up in flames, the backlash sending Sizzle's helicopter into another spin, but Sizzle just rode that one, laughing merrily.

"Ohhhhhhhhh…how sweet it is…!" Sizzle laughed as the helicopter went back to normal so she was observing the smoking roof, though her helicopter blades were rapidly blowing the smoke away. "Farewell forever…"

More smoke blew away…revealing a form. Sizzle's eyes widened.

"WHAT?"

Coughing and retching, a scorched and battered but still alive Danny Fenton was getting to his feet. As mention, the water had messed up Sizzle's lock on systems…and that had allowed him to escape all four missiles. How had he escaped the area effect and shrapnel? Apparently someone liked him.

"No. NOOOOOO!" Sizzle screamed. Well if she couldn't get the job done with missiles she'd settle for bullets…

Which were refusing to fire. Sizzle looked at the vid-screen that had come up before her.

"Chain gun jammed. Missile rails damaged. Would you like to initiate repairs?"

Sizzle snarled, but she knew she didn't have a choice.

"Yes." She said, grinding her teeth.

Danny was fully up by now, looking at his hands again.

"I'm alive? But…"

And then he recalled Sizzle, and he whirled…and saw that her chain gun and missile struts were retracting into the Fenton-copter. Danny didn't know what that meant, but he wasn't going to look this gift horse in the mouth…

And he happened to glance at his right leg, and his eyes widened. About an eternity ago, he'd stuck the Mini Fenton Ghost Catcher in his boot while in ghost state and forgotten about it. Now he remembered…and was finding that the device that could remove a ghost from the person possessed by it was gone. Where did it go? For a moment, Danny actually pawed at his pant leg to see if it was there. No dice. Wherever his costume went when he returned to normal, it had apparently taken the device with it.

Well, if he had to change back to get it, he'd do so, as changing back would greatly increase his chances for survival anyway, as he concentrated…

And got nothing. Zip. Zilch. Zero. The well wasn't just dry, it was Antarctic Desert, which hadn't had rain for two million years. Danny may have been improving in power somehow…but it had limits and they were DONE. Danny was stuck as a normal.

And Sizzle was stuck without weapons, and was rapidly on the verge of throwing that temper tantrum she nearly had thrown at the end of the last chapter.

Until something occurred to her. Against a human…she didn't need a weapon. This copter would SERVE as a weapon.

Once again, that cruel smile was back.

"If at first you don't succeed…get nastier." Sizzle said, as she yanked the stick down.

(Writer's Note: This was actually the original planned cliffhanger for Part 4! Trivia! Yay! Uh, we now return you to your regularly scheduled fanfic…or something…)

Danny was rudely jerked out of his pondering on just where the Fenton Mini Ghost Catcher had gone by the sudden increase of noise as Sizzle began flying the helicopter in towards the roof. He arched an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

Smirking, the smile hiding the great deal of effort needed to do this right, Sizzle flew in close to the roof and then carefully tilted the nose of the helicopter down, down, down…until she had put the machine at a near 60 degree angle to the roof…and pointed the whirling chopper blades in Danny's direction. Looking up through her cockpit, Sizzle's smirk increased in length as she twisted the stick and began flying towards Danny.

Danny yelped as he realized what Sizzle had done: turned the helicopter into a Cuisinart. He had to get out of here, NOW. The helicopter was moving fairly slowly, he could run to the stairs, where were the stairs, the stairs…

Danny found them with his eyes.

And his heart filled with ice.

The small shack that had once held the stairs was now a smoldering pile of metal rubble, courtesy of one of Sizzle's missiles. There was nowhere to run, except maybe around Sizzle…except the wind from the helicopter's whirling blades was making any kind of movement difficult.

Danny tried anyway, running to the left…only to find himself being blown back by the wind. He tried to go back to the right…and found Sizzle cutting him off. He backed up, away from the spinning blades…

And almost stepped onto thin air. Danny gasped and stopped as he realized he was at the very edge of the building…and Sizzle had cut him off from any retreat.

He was caught again, this time between the devil and the deep open air. Danny looked behind him as if needing to verify his mess, and then turned back to the approaching helicopter. Fear was now flooding his body…but with it came determination.

"All right…" He said as Sizzle closed in now. "Now, more then ever…I'M GOIN' GHOST!"

And Danny reached deep deep down within himself…

And found nothing.

He'd had it. Not even his impending death could squeeze another drop from whatever he drew his power from.

Danny Fenton was suddenly aware he was going to die. He had been aware of it before, but this time, he had no hope of escaping it.

Danny looked at the blades as they approached him. So he had one last choice left. Step off and fall, or be turned into hamburger.

He wondered which way. If he stepped back he was a coward. Soldiers were supposed to take death like men. But those deaths usually came from bullets: Danny could conceive of taking a bullet like a man but had no idea how to take giant, razor sharp shredding blades…

They filled his vision, all he knew was their blurring form…and the devilish gleam in Sizzle's eye.

Three feet.

And then four feet, as Danny, not so much in any real choice but as an instinctive reaction by his body he couldn't control, took a step back.

And found, like many before him, gravity could be a truly vengeful mistress.

"Ah FUCK!" Sizzle snarled as Danny stepped off the edge and disappeared from view. She'd wanted to see his blood and guts splatter all over the windshield. Well, maybe she could get a sample off the ground…

And Danny, more then anything, as he started to fall, was looking up to the sky…and apologizing to it. He'd already said a million apologies before to his family and friends for his failings…but strangely, now, he mourned that he would never piece that blue veil and see what lay beyond the planet, the planet that was carrying him back to it's bosom, that planet that would take his body violently…and yet…the sky was so beautiful…

As the white lines swung out, wrapping around Danny, and he blinked, confused at the sudden change, and then the reality came roaring back: he had been falling to his death…operative word being BEEN, as he was now wrapped in white energy attached to another form, as Savior shot out another coil as they fell, grabbing a roof and pulling them in like a fishing line.

And Sizzle screamed in her helicopter, the rage finally firing up again. What kind of a charmed life did that bastard boy lead? Even when he was doomed…his fucking Titan allies snatched him from the jaws of death. Well, if they kept denying death her snack, Sizzle was going to serve her up a feast, as she twisted the helicopter around, planning to do a wide turn in order to close in quicker.

"Jesus rookie!" Savior said as he set himself and Danny down on the roof, the fourteen year old looking stunned. "You certainly have a set to gamble that one of us would be able to catch you before you went splat."

"Huh…set…gamble…?" Danny muttered.

"Hey, kid! Snap out of it rookie!" Savior said, snapping his fingers in front of Danny. "Don't zone out now, this is a REAL bad time!"

"What? Huh? Where…" Danny said, as he finally came to. "What…Savior! You caught me?"

"No, this is heaven. God is apparently highly unoriginal." Savior said. "Don't thank me kid, it comes with the territory. You fall, we catch you. You can't count on much in this life but with any and all gods as my witnesses you can count on that." Savior said as he turned, looking as Sizzle began approaching the pair, though she was still fairly far away. "Damn, where did she get THAT ordnance?"

"Apparently my…parents left it on the helicopter." Danny said, suddenly ashamed. When Savior looked at him though, there was no judgment in the look.

"Great. Peachy keen. Ok, second question: why are you like that?" Savior said, indicating Danny's normal form.

"Uh…I kinda ran out of power."

"You did?"

"Yeah."

"You never bothered to test your limits, get a handle on how much stamina you had? Didn't you ever think a day like this might come?" Savior said: NOW he was looking judgmental.

"I…had homework!"

"Great, just GREAT!" Savior yelled. Sizzle was closing in, and the chain gun had apparently been repaired as it was emerging again. Savior didn't hang around to see how good a job was done: he grabbed Danny with a Shimmer line, pulling the teen along with him with a yelp as Savior leapt off the building and shot out another line, swinging away. But one of the advantages of flight was you could take shortcuts, and as Savior swung down a road and turned the corner he suddenly found his vision filled with the Fenton-copter as Sizzle dropped down in front of him, or more specifically, the chain gun in front of him.

"JESUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSS!" Savior yelled as he suddenly found death staring him in the face. Sizzle waved with her free hand, and then reached down and pulled the trigger.

That saved Savior, as he was in mid-swing forward when Sizzle had appeared and his mind went with the move, as he abruptly changed the nature of the Shimmer strand he was swinging on even as, at the same time, he "retracted" it back into his palm. Along with that, he let go of Danny, hurling the screaming teenager up into the air even as the retracted strand pulled him out of the way of the bullets. Flying up above the helicopter, Danny looked down and realized that he was out of the frying pan and into the fire: he'd come right down on the whirling blades…

Of course, Savior wasn't going to allow that to happen, as he changed the nature of the Shimmer energy again, converting it to extreme elasticity that yanked him upward like a rocket. As he flew up, Danny started going down, still screaming…as Savior fired off twin Shimmer lines…grabbing the end of the helicopter blade. The rapidly whirling blade yanked Savior forward at super-high speed, so quick he actually flew straight under Danny as he continued to fall…even as a Shimmer line sprang out of Savior's back and snagged the kid, pulling the two away from the helicopter as Sizzle tried to figure out what was going on. Savior, meanwhile, flew right over a roof and then abruptly changed direction as he fired off another strand, grabbed the end of a building, and swung low and up, flying up and landing on a water tower. He set Danny down beside him.

And Danny punched Savior on the shoulder.

"DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" Danny yelled, not having much liked the trip. Savior looked wryly at him.

"If I hadn't let you go, your weight would have screwed me up, and there's a good chance you, I, or both of us would be dead." Savior said. "Trust me. I'm a pro at this kid."

"Hey, I'm not…" Danny began.

"Can you change back yet?" Savior said, cutting Danny off. Danny blinked, and tried. Nothing.

"No, I…"

"Well kid, I know you don't like it, but over the river and through the woods…!" Savior said as he grabbed Danny again and swung off as Sizzle flew up near the water tower, gnashing her teeth.

Savior swung a few times and then did a tight turn onto another street. Sizzle was right on his tail, once again nearly crashing into the side of a building as she followed. The chain gun began blazing again, and Danny yelled in fear as a blast of bullets missed the two heroes by a foot, blowing another line across the concrete. Fortunately, by now news had spread across Amity Park that there was a lunatic flying around town in an Apache helicopter and everyone was off the streets and mostly in basements. Good for them, as Savior zig-zagged back and forth across the street, Sizzle on his ass as the chain gun smashed windows and building fronts and blew up even more cars.

"How you doing up there kid?" Savior tossed over his shoulder as he swung around a corner, flew over a few roofs, and landed, running rapidly. Danny just yelled nonsense to indicate he wasn't happy. "Good!"

Sizzle was there, and a line of bullets was ripping across the roof towards the running pair. That wasn't too good: what was worse was that Savior was on a building that was on the edge of Amity Park and when he hit the end there was nothing to swing or leap to except the freeway coming into Amity Park…which was several hundred feet away. Savior didn't seem to notice this though, as he continued to run towards the edge, but Danny sure did.

"AHHHHH! STOP! NO MORE ROOF! NO MORE ROOF!"

"SHUT UP AND LET ME DRIVE!" Savior yelled back as he reached the end…and ran right off it. Danny was barely pulled over the edge by the Shimmer line Savior was carrying him with before the bullets hit where he had just been, Savior running straight down the side of the roof via the Shimmer strand that had emerged from his back and attached to the roof. He hit the ground and stepped off, running a few more feet…and then stopping, as he thrust out his hands and snatched up a car.

"Now what are you doing?" Danny asked.

"Buying us a few seconds." Savior said, as Shimmer strands lifted the car up.

Sizzle flew over the rooftop…

And Savior hurled the car, sending the vehicle crashing into the helicopter's underside and once again putting the battered vehicle in a spin, Sizzle doing her usual screaming curses.

"MY MOTHER'S IN THERE!" Danny yelled.

"Yeah, and if that thing can absorb Cyborg's Drillers I doubt that put her in much danger." Savior commented, as he ran a few more feet…stopping at a pair of lamp posts. He fired out twin Shimmer lines, each one grabbing the top of the pole.

"Hang on." Savior said.

"What are you doing NOOOOOOOOOWWWW….!" Danny screamed as Savior pulled out every bit of elastic and retractive force he could muster to fling himself up in the air and off into the distance, towards the aforementioned distant freeway. It was such a long flight, Danny had to stop, take a breath, and then continue screaming. And if you think Danny is acting like a wimp, let's just say that Danny is used to extraordinary experiences in his Halfa form. His human form…not so much.

The two dipped down on the freeway, Savior grabbing hold of an 18-Wheeler on route into Amity Park and dropping the two down on its roof, setting Danny down gently.

"Do you USUALLY pull such suicidal stunts, or is it only when you have a passenger along to properly terrify?" Danny snapped at Savior. Savior just glanced at him.

"Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash. George Patton." Savior quoted, and then looked over to the approaching helicopter. He looked back at Danny. "Can you turn back now?"

"Uh…I'm goin' ghost!" Danny yelled, reaching deep down again.

_I'm sorry, any and all power is out right now, please leave a message and we'll get back to you when we can…_

"No! I'm still tapped out!" Danny said.

"Great. Guess we have to do this the hard way." Savior said, as he reached under his coat again. "I managed to retrieve this. Here kid." Savior said, tossing Danny the Special Fenton Thermos. Danny would have been glad to see it…if not for his current situation.

"Give me the Ghost Kicker Outer Thingie, I'll see if I can get in close enough to use it." Savior said.

"Uh…" Danny replied. Savior looked back at Danny, clearly not happy.

"Please don't say you lost or broke it."

"Uh…well no…it's just kind of…" Danny said, not sure how to explain.

"Great. Forget the hard way, now we have to top Mr. Bond." Savior said. "Or rather, I do."

Danny couldn't believe what Savior did next.

Neither could Sizzle, as her contentment that her missiles were finally being reloaded abruptly dissolved as Savior formed a sign over him with the Shimmer.

Specifically, a sign that said "Hey Bitch, WHERE'S MY SANDWICH?"

"You FUCK!" Sizzle yelled, as she armed the only two missiles she had at the moment.

"What are you doing! She'll launch missiles at that distance!" Danny screamed.

"Yes, I just hope she doesn't launch too many." Savior replied. Danny looked at the white haired superhero and decided that there was no two bones about it: the guy was totally loonytoons.

And then the missiles were flying at them.

And Savior was flying at the missiles, as he grabbed the end of the truck and threw himself through the air, flying over the honking cars as the missiles headed for Danny, and Danny wondered if he was going to be faced with another jump/get reduced to bits choice.

In the end, no, as Savior flew under the missiles, twisted in mid-air, and launched out Shimmer strands. Danny's eyes widened.

"No way. This isn't going to work." Danny said.

Savior turned around again, being dragged by the missiles, missiles that were getting too close for comfort to Danny, and he started backing up with a scream, and then with his own yell of effort, Savior yanked down on the missiles as hard as he could, pulling the projectiles towards the ground…and them, almost instantly, shifting the weight and force of the Shimmer, he shoved the missile back UP…so that they were facing the other way.

As he landed on a car roof, Savior thrust down his arms.

And the missiles flew off, heading back towards Sizzle, whose eyes went as wide as saucers at this ridiculous manipulation of physics Savior had just pulled. But in the world of superheroes, the laws of the universe existed to be broken.

"FUUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKK!" Sizzle screamed, recoiling.

The missiles slammed into the Fenton-copter, blowing it back and sending it into another spin, and Danny screamed at the thought of his mother being hurt, but as it was quickly revealed, the armor on the Fenton-copter was truly extraordinary, as it took the brunt and stayed up, even though it continued to spin and smoke was once again pouring from several parts.

"Buddha fucking Jesus!" Sizzle cursed, as she once again found herself in a war to get her machine under control, the machine that somehow managed to keep failing and failing in her quest to kill the boy and the Titans…

And part of it was about to fail again. Specifically, the door, as a sudden loud noise sounded near Sizzle, and as she glanced at her side the door was suddenly wrenched right off and Sizzle found herself looking at Savior. The shield might have blocked a direct attack from the Shimmer, but once Savior had grabbed the underside of the helicopter and pulled himself through it, he was free to use his ability, and while the armor on the vehicle was extremely tough, the hinges in the door were small, thin, and breakable.

"Pull over, I need to check your license!" Savior yelled as he reached forward, grabbing Maddie Fenton by her outfit and trying to yank her out.

"FUCK OFF!" Sizzle screamed, letting go of the controls to punch and claw at Savior, but he had thrown Shimmer guards over his eyes and general soft spots, even as he tried to cut off the seat belt…

And then Sizzle's eyes blazed with fire.

"You think I traded in my bite for a new toy?" She asked.

The explosion blew Savior right off the helicopter, the flames totally consuming him, and Danny yelled in disbelief as the smoking form fell…

And was caught by a black energy hand.

Scorched, Savior shook his head, and then looked up at his lady love, Raven, who was looking down at him with a look that said, how could you have not factored that in?

Savior changed the subject, looking down, and then pulling something out from under his coat, something that was around his neck.

"Well, at least your flame guards work." Savior said.

"Yeah, now let's go grab Danny before Sizzle shoves a missile up his behind." Raven said.

And then, with a woosh, four more missiles flew from the helicopter, headed straight for Danny.

"Too late." Savior commented.

"Uh, help anyone? ANYONE!" Danny yelled as the missiles flew in.

Then a dark portal opened up near them and Raven flew out, her eyes and hands glowing.

"ZINTHOS!" she finished yelling, as black energy encased the missiles and stopped them. For a moment they hung there, Raven making a low groan of immense effort and pain, and then the missiles broke into pieces, yanked into their component parts. Raven flew to the side, even as she threw the now harmless debris off the side of the highway, and Danny, safe for now, looked back at the Fenton-copter…and saw two more missiles had been loaded and were probably seconds away from firing.

"Man, I wish I could still fly." Danny said.

And suddenly Savior was next to him, the Shimmer grabbing him by his shoulders.

"Wish granted." Savior said, and hurled Danny off the truck and through the air. Danny screamed again…and then a black energy hand caught him, as Raven swooped in and saved him from becoming roadkill.

The missiles Danny had observed fired, and Savior leapt forward, putting his hands together as the Shimmer flowed out and formed into a huge mace-like weapon, and he swung it out, slamming it into the side of one missiles and half smashing half shoving it into the other. The two veered off course for a few seconds before exploding, and then Savior landed on the roof of an SUV, denting the metal. He paused for a second to see if the driver swerved in panic: he or she didn't. Indeed, the road was keeping it together pretty well despite the battle raging over them. Or maybe the "drivers talking on cellphones and hence dead to the world" had hit a new epidemic height, but Savior didn't care, as long as a thirty car pileup could be avoided. He looked back to Raven.

"Raven! The sides of the highway are relatively bare for the next mile! Throw the missiles there!" Savior thought, not wanting to try and yell over the noise of the highway. Raven, a telepath, heard him as clear as a bell. "You and I, switching off!"

"Got it." Raven said, and then she flew forward, and Danny was aware that the energy holding him was starting to shift.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Trust me." Raven said.

And then she tossed Danny to the side, the poor teen so shocked by this that he didn't even get a chance to scream before Savior bounded across several cars, leapt into the air, grabbed him, and dropped down onto another 18 wheeler.

"AHHHH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

"Making it as hard to target you as possible, so we can deal with the missiles easier." Savior said, as Raven flew forward, two more missiles heading for her, missiles that had been launched roughly at the same time Danny was getting a bird's eye view of the highway. She reached out, concentrating, and then black energy grabbed the missiles and shoved them towards each other. They too collided in mid air and detonated, even as Raven flew backwards, seizing whatever wreckage of the detonated she could and tossing it to the side so it didn't fall through some poor schmuck's windshield.

"Here we go." Savior said, and Danny couldn't even protest before Savior used the Shimmer to toss the two of them off the truck, and then he hurled Danny to Raven, who caught him as another missile fired off. Savior threw out a line, grabbed it, and yanked it off to the side, the missile flying and exploding into a barren field as Savior bounced back over the cars and Raven threw Danny back to him before he could even complain to her that he didn't want to be treated as a softball. While Savior grabbed the yelling/protesting/screaming/generally not very happy Danny and began doing Matrix acrobatics with the Shimmer back and forth along both lines of the highway., Raven flew in and grabbed the next missile with her black power, snapping it in half like a carrot stick and tossing it to the side where it exploded.

"How much longer are you going to do this?" Danny yelled, as he knew what was coming next.

"Until she runs out of ammo or we run out of the proper space to do this, whatever comes first." Savior said, and tossed Danny to Raven as she flew past him, Raven catching him as Sizzle launched yet another missile, apparently now so mad all she could do was pull the trigger again and again. Savior leapt across the rooftops of several sturdier cars and lashed a powerful blow against the side of the missile: the weapon spun off and exploded in the air next to the highway, and Savior grabbed onto a nearby truck and hurled himself back the way he came, Raven throwing Danny to him as she went in to take care of her missile(s).

It didn't take her long to realize something was wrong: the missile was flying too low. Sizzle had finally wised up and figured that if the Titans wanted to keep stopping her missiles, she'd make them work for it. And so she'd fired at the street.

Thrown off, Raven only had time to grab the missile and rip the explosive head off before the body crashed into the highway, and the street erupted in a gigantic squeal of brakes and other automobile noise as the myriad vehicles in front of the fallen missile tried to avoid it. Raven barely had time to get rid of the explosive tip of the missiles before she had to swoop down and start deflecting and moving cars with her powers, not wanting a huge crash to happen because of her error. But the strain of diverting/moving/outright STOPPING so many heavy machines was murderous, as Raven fought with all her might to give the cars with some distance from the accident time to stop (and hopefully there wouldn't be a crash in the distance, but the Titans were superheroes, not gods).

Raven succeeded…at a cost: she collapsed, utter exhausted and spent. Her brain immediately slipped into a meditative state to allow her the rest she needed: it wouldn't take long, but for now she was out of the fight.

Savior had known that when he saw her trying to stop the cars, and he had changed the plan accordingly, finally leaping off the highway as it came back into Amity Park and swinging through the downtown streets again. He figured it wouldn't be long until Sizzle was joining them again.

"Our incorrigible little friend in sight yet?" Savior yelled: the way he was carrying Danny was from a strand coming from his shoulder that held Danny slightly above him so Danny wouldn't get in the way. Danny was currently facing the opposite way Savior was, so while the boy was powerless he could serve as a second pair of eyes. At least the boy hadn't lost the Thermos: he'd strapped it to his back.

"No! I don't suppose you could just let me off somewhere and let me rest?" Danny asked.

"Forget it! She wants you! She loses you, there's nothing to stop her from letting loose on the nearest building and KKEEEE-RIST!" Savior yelled as the helicopter swung into the street in front of them, stopping the Titan in his (metaphorical) tracks. When you could fly, you could take shortcuts. Especially when you had a permanent lock on your target and a handy map you could bring up on the special cockpit videoscreen in front of you.

"Six…ten….fourteen…" Savior was saying.

"What?" Danny yelled.

"That helicopter holds sixteen missiles so there…"

The last two remaining missiles fired at the pair. Savior immediately reversed direction and starting swinging backwards.

"Do you see any civilians?" Savior yelled.

"Wha? Uh, no!" Danny yelled.

"Good, hang on!" Savior yelled as he swung down to the street, hit the ground running as the missiles flew in…and then he turned, grabbing a pair of cars with his ability.

"I really hope they're insured." Savior yelled, and then he hurled the pair of cars into the missiles.

The shockwave sent Savior tumbling ass over elbows backwards: Danny actually got the better treatment as the Shimmer strand was holding him a few feet above the ground and instead of getting tangled around Savior's body it moved around via itself (for newbies, the Shimmer has been theorized but never proven to possess some kind of sentience, aka self awareness, aka it might be alive in some way, which is why it can do that kind of stuff), so Danny stayed off the ground while Savior tumbled along finally, finally coming to a stop a few dozen feet away.

"I think I just lost about a pound of skin." Savior groaned.

"Ummmmm…" Danny replied, and then his eyes widened as the oh so familiar by now sound of an approaching helicopter filled his ears. "Uh, uh…!"

"Yeah I know." Savior said as he pushed himself to his feet and started running, tossing out more strands and swinging up into the air, as Sizzle once again did her dangerous spin to change direction move (and considering how banged up the Fenton-copter looked now, that probably wasn't the wisest move to be doing), and was about to start after them…and then she noticed something.

"Hmmmmmm." Sizzle said, looking at what lay at the end of the street. Then she yanked the stick up and flew off.

Savior didn't notice: he had pulled out his communicator and was holding it in front of him with another Shimmer strand as he swung down the street towards the skyscraper at the end.

"Cyborg, are you there? Have you finished repairing yourself yet?" Savior asked.

"Almost! How much trouble are you in?"

"Me, not sure, but if this battle goes on any longer there won't be an Amity Park left!" Savior said. Danny was yelling at him, but Savior ignored him: he had to finish. "Be ready when you show up, it's a real mess!" Savior said, signing off and immediately trying to raise Starfire.

"Starfire, are you there? Answer if possible! Starfire! Star!" Savior yelled into the communicator: nothing but static. "Shit!"

"SAVIOR! SAVIOR!" Danny was now screaming at the top of his lungs.

"WHAT?"

"She's gone!" Danny yelled, pointing, and Savior turned and found, much to his surprise, that Sizzle was indeed not chasing them.

"Where did she go?" Savior asked.

"Why are you asking me? I don't know!" Danny replied.

"Great. Now what?" Savior said as he looked around…and saw the skyscraper he had almost reached. "Ok, we need to find her! High altitude point!" Savior said, and started swinging again, and when he reached the skyscraper, began pulling himself and Danny up it.

Too bad that was exactly what Sizzle had guessed he would do. As mentioned, when not screaming mad, she had a fair brain on her.

Savior pulled himself up onto the roof, doing a small flip and landing, setting Danny down next to him. He paused to take a few breaths: all this running was tiring.

"You ok?" Danny asked.

"Yeah. Great. Better then the Atkins diet." Savior replied. "Ok look kid…"

And then Savior arched an eyebrow as he suddenly became aware of the noise.

"Oh fuck me."

Sizzle rose up on the opposite side of the skyscraper, smiling viciously, and why wouldn't she? She'd predicted the boys would go straight to the top of the building in some kind of bizarre phallic bonding Freudian desire something or other, and she'd reacted accordingly, flying around Amity Park and up the side of the building.

And now she had the two dead in her sights, and while her missiles were once again being reloaded, her chain gun was ready and about to go.

"Eep." Danny said, turning as white as his shirt.

"You're fired." Sizzle replied, in an echo of the greatest cheesy line ever uttered in a movie. Strangely, by a male movie star turned politician who wasn't well known for having treated women well.

"Ah crap." Savior replied, and then Danny was being yanked to the ground by a Shimmer line, Savior putting his body over his as a myriad of strands sprang from his back and right hand, covering the two in a protective cocoon, going as thick as it could in the second or two Savior had, as Savior braced himself for the impacts.

Sizzle opened fire on the energy dome.

As mentioned, Savior's clothing was highly refined armor, but it was armor designed to take bullets designed to kill human targets. Bullets from the Glocks and Smith and Wessons of the world. Not bullets from a M230 30mm chain gun, which fired rounds that were designed to puncture tanks and armored personal carriers. Body armor or no body armor, those kinds of rounds would have blown Savior's limbs right off with a single shot and punched holes in his torso the size of a basketball. No, this required the Shimmer's protection.

And indeed, the Shimmer was very good protection. It only had one major weakness: blades. And since bullets didn't so much cut or pierce their targets as they so much used the high velocity behind their ejection to ram right through them, the Shimmer was a very good shield against bullets…but even it couldn't take a myriad of impacts like the kind a 30mm depleted uranium shell could make and shrug it off like Superman could, and the cost of having to take it had to happen somewhere.

In this case, Savior's body, as an immense feedback from the barrage being rained onto the Shimmer tore through his form, all his muscles feeling like they were cramping up and all his nerves igniting and yelling that they didn't like this sensation. But Savior held the shield, pouring more and more "material" onto it to try and lessen the unique agony, trying to make as many of the bullets deflect off the barrier instead of outright absorbing the impacts, but it was still hell, and Danny, under Savior, knew it from the growling/moaning snarl that Savior was making under his breath, right into Danny's ear, even as Sizzle reduced the roof to swiss cheese, the glow of the tracers sparkling in her eyes…

And then the chain gun cut out.

Sizzle's happy look faded.

"What the fuck? It was just getting good!"

"Chain gun ammo depleted. Reload?" The computer asked. Sizzle snarled again.

"Yeah, fine! Fucking killjoy!" Sizzle cursed.

And the Shimmer shield pulled away and disappeared from above Danny, and he blinked and then looked as Savior pulled himself away from him. Danny looked at the Titan and gasped: blood was pouring from his nose and his ears. The cost of heroism.

"…………sorry kid…you're…on your own." Savior said, and passed out, blood pooling around his head.

Danny looked at the fallen Titan, and then looked back at Sizzle, as the chain gun withdrew back into the Fenton-copter, Sizzle taking in the scene below her.

"Well, at least I got one of the sons of bitches!" She said happily. Maybe with both her weapons being reloaded she could try her blender move again…

Danny looked up at the helicopter, as flashes of memory flew through his head…

Starfire's limp form flying off in the distance…

Cyborg falling to the ground with him helpless to stop it…

Raven collapsing on the highway road…

Savior's blood around his feet…

Danny's fists clenched so tight the knuckles whitened, and then he reached behind him, undid the Fenton Thermos, and dropped it to the ground as he turned furious eyes on the Fenton-copter.

"THIS. WILL. NOT. STAND!" Danny yelled, and once again he reached down within himself, as deep as he ever did, and this time he was either going to have a heart attack or he was… "I'M…GOING….**GHOST!"**

The circles sprang up around him, their luminescence wrapping around his form and finally bringing him back to what he was.

He was Danny Phantom.

And he was PISSED.

"SIZZZZZZZZZZLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEE!" Danny screamed, even as he kicked the Thermos up to his hand and snapped it back around him.

Sizzle looked down at the once again Halfa boy. She snorted disdainfully.

"Some people never learn."

And Danny launched himself at the Fenton-copter.


	11. In Flagrante Ira: War Is Hell

Chapter 11: War Is Hell

"There's many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell."

-General William T. Sherman, 1880

Danny Phantom had it all. The summoned power that had seemingly come from nowhere, a power that had come after being denied several times before. The raging fury to drive him on despite the fact that he'd not only hit his limits he'd surpassed them and went over the edge. The righteousness of his cause, the hero that has seen too much and has finally decided to cut loose. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more, the phrase goes, and that it certainly fit Danny Phantom as he stormed up, his fist pistoning out towards Sizzle.

Yeah, she still had her shield, but this was THAT kind of moment. Surely, Danny would finally find a way past the barrier Sizzle had been hiding behind and strike her down for her crimes.

Wrong.

Danny slammed into the barrier, green and white energy exploding in a furious crackling around his fist and arm, as he hung there for a second, his eyes locks with Sizzle's, even as he seemed to be trying to force his hand through the buffer…

And then the shield reacted, taking the impact Danny had smashed into it and reflecting it back at him, amplified by three, sending the teenaged ghost flying backwards in a crazy twirl, yelling all the way, and Sizzle, who had actually recoiled a bit when Danny hadn't been immediately thrown back, lowered her arm, and then hissed in rage at her reaction. And even though she was mad at herself, it was going to be the boy who bore the brunt of it.

Meanwhile, Danny was stopping from where he had been thrown…and was coming straight back at Sizzle. Sizzle gaped at this as Danny slashed down and slammed back into the shield with his foot, actually shoving the Fenton-copter back a few feet before the shield threw him away again. This time, Danny flew backwards like a wrecking ball, shooting across an entire block: if the two of them hadn't already been so far up in the air he would have surely crashed into a building.

"The boy must have cracked." Sizzle said, and flew after Danny.

Danny had managed to stop himself, panting for air. He might have been able to turn back, but it wasn't like all his energy stores had been instantly replenished. Indeed, he might have gotten a second wind, but he doubted it would last that long.

But before it expired, Danny was going to do one thing: smash that damn shield, the shield that had kept the Titans and he himself from being able to get to his mother, even if he had to spent his entire time left in this state throwing himself against it. It was only a machine: machines could only endure so much wear and tear and abuse. Surely, if he threw everything he had into attacking it, the shield would HAVE to konk out. I mean, it had to cost an immense amount of energy to take a blow and reflected it back at three times the strength: surely it couldn't keep it up!

Sizzle was coming, and Danny went on the attack again, as he thrust out his hands and fired a barrage of EE blasts. As mentioned, you needed to be somewhat close for the shield to hit you with the reflect counter, and hence Danny could keep himself in one place as he pumped energy into the shield, the blasts bouncing off and flying into the sky and to the ground, where they either fizzled out or hit something they really couldn't damage, like metal.

Sizzle was frowning: she couldn't figure out what the boy was planning, unless she had been correct in her initial assessment and he had lost his mind. Then again, he couldn't hurt her, so why worry?

"GRAHHHHHHHHHH!" Danny screamed, continuing his onslaught as Sizzle drew close…and just before he would have gotten the backlash effect he flew up and away at a steep angle. Sizzle followed him up with her eyes…

Danny came out of the sky like a comet, lacing his fists together and bringing them down on the top of the shield as hard as he could. There was an immense crackling bang as the irresistible force met the unmovable object.

The unmovable object lived up to its name.

The retaliatory effect of the latest blow sent Danny shooting off at a downward angle. This time, Danny truly was like a comet…complete with a violent landing as Danny struck the ground and slid along it for nearly a block before coming to a stop. Stars exploded in Danny's vision, even as his body yelled and screamed at such treatment.

His vision began to fade…

**_NO. I REFUSE._**

Danny shoved his pain away again, locking it in a tight box and throwing away the key, and as Sizzle swooped down to follow, he shoved himself to his feet, his glaring eyes watching her as he prepared to strike again.

* * *

Far away, in a throne room straight out of medieval times, a familiar figure sat in his chair (though strangely, it was in and of itself not a throne). 

Previously, we had seen Vlad Masters spying in on Danny and the Titans via a small crystal. However, the crystal's size was directly related to its task: to spy on the boy and not have him pick up on it, subtlety was needed. For THIS task, however, Vlad didn't need to be subtle: the event was radiating so much spectral energy that some people were probably picking up images of it on their dentures. For Vlad, he didn't just see it, it was like he had a personal front row seat to it, as the crystal on the pedestal several feet from him projected an image that put most big screen TV's to shame.

And he rather liked what he was seeing, in a similar vein that people like to see other people getting hurt on shows like _America's Funniest Home Videos_, as he watched the Halfa boy, who should have fled to recover a bit after taking a blow like the one he had just taken, zap at the shielded helicopter again and punch it. The backlash sent him flying across the street and into a second story window at the end of it. Vlad half chuckled and half snorted.

"Why are you even fighting, child?" Vlad said. "Even if you free your mother, that spirit who has become so…enamored of you will simply seek out the nearest host to continue the fight. This is not a battle you can win, Danny. You WILL die. More's the pity." Vlad said. He winced: his arm was STILL hurting. Whatever that Soulsearer flame had done, he was still feeling the affects. He had expected the pain to have faded by now. It made him angry, that pain, and by effect made him angry at the one who had inflicted it on him.

But, safe in his castle and having had time to think, the anger was coolly under control. The injury that this psychotic fire spirit had caused was nothing. He may have been Vlad Plasmius, mighty and feared by those who understood his destiny…but he was not perfect. Yet. That would come soon though, and when it did, if she remained, Sizzle would pay a very dear price for the insult she had inflicted upon him. Yes…he could almost see it now. Soon, the day would come where his will would be able to shape reality. The day when he would cast aside all those foolish heroes, champions, and paragons like the children they were and make both worlds, the physical and the spiritual, his.

Heroes died.

Gods faded from memory.

But he was the Primmortal. He would be forever.

So, for now, he was content to watch as Danny Phantom, the silly boy who refused to admit that he was doomed, flew from the broken window and fired off a stream of ectoblasts, slamming all his power into the shield and not getting anywhere. Vlad could have told him his thinking process was erroneous: Jack Fenton may have been a thief, a fool, and someone who would suffer greatly when Vlad fully ascended to his destiny, but when it came to hunting ghosts, even Vlad had to grudgingly admit Jack had a fair amount of competence. The shield would break eventually, but not under Danny's barrage. That sealed his doom. Too bad. Once Vlad had hit the peak of his empyrean abilities, Danny would have finally been easily persuaded to see the reality of the world. A fine soldier, indeed. Much like Sizzle would have been if she wasn't so very mad.

So Vlad sat, and watched, and healed, and planned as he watched the events unfold. He'd be ready next time. He knew all the angles now. Next time, everything would go his way.

And then everything would be his.

* * *

As mention, Vlad had been watching the battle on a special crystal that basically picked up the waves of power that Danny and Sizzle were emitting and translated it into a visual image. And as mentioned, the battle was giving off so much energy that you didn't need any special crystals like the ones Vlad had to see it. 

"Zounds!" The Box Ghost said from his seat: exactly what he was in, in the Ghost Zone, could be considered in the closest human terms to be a bar, though the ghosts didn't exactly DRINK…it was complicated. In any case, this somewhat bar was where a good deal of the spirits of the Ghost Zone were at the moment, for various reasons. "Danny Phantom will simply not surrender! Even I, the Box Ghost, am impressed by…"

A large cannon was suddenly sticking in the Box Ghost's face. He gulped and looked at a glaring Skulker, who had had just about enough of the Box Ghost's constant yelling talking in third person speech.

"…I have said enough! Beware!" The Box Ghost said, and zipped back over to his "seat". Skulker retracted his cannon and resumed watching the crystal which most of the spirits and entities in the "bar" were watching. After Sizzle had literally vaporized his armor, Skulker had retreated back to the Ghost Zone for a new suit, and he had had general plans to return…as soon as he figured out the best way to deal with Sizzle. To ponder that, he had gone to the somewhat bar, not surprised that Technus was there as well (though Technus had no plans to go back for a bit). Ember was still absent: Skulker didn't know or care where she was (in the middle of making a VERY long trip back to Earth). He was too busy watching the fight. At first, he figured it would be good recon, though he had been saddened when the ghost child had run out of power: it surely meant his doom, Skulker thought, and he would never get a chance to cage or skin the strange creature. When the ghost child had somehow transformed AGAIN though…Skulker had begun to be outright confused.

"This does not make much sense…" He was saying to himself, as Danny flew around the corner of one of Amity Park's abandoned streets, still firing ectoshots at the shield. "The ghost boy has proven to be wily, but for these readings to match, he would have had to pushed himself to his limit twice over. That kind of power should not be possible…yet observations clearly show that this is what appears to be happening. It will be taken under assessment on the next hunt, if the ghost child survives this. If he does not, shift plans to hunting fire spirit. Caging is out of the question: there is no other opinion except her destruction." Skulker finished saying, and went back to watching the fight. Perhaps he would make an enquiry to Plasmius later: The Primmortal would surely know the answer to these events.

* * *

What went wrong… 

_"Bitch."_

_Sizzle stopped, her ears pricking up. The word was followed by another._

_"Whore."_

_Sizzle turned her head towards the sounds. Robin did so as well, and his eyes widened in surprise._

_"Savior?" he said._

_Savior was still hanging by his restraints, seemingly dead to the world. But it was clearly his voice that had somehow whispered the words. Words that had angered Sizzle even more, as she let Robin go and strode over to Savior._

_"Well well, the Lord made you a retard and yet you are still somehow a pig. Fine then, you can be first." Sizzle said, lifting Savior's head up, his eyes dull and blood still running down his face from the lobotomy that the Lord had performed on him._

_Sizzle raised the knife as she drew Savior's face towards her._

She would have killed us all. She was a victim, yes…but the worst kind. Her pain killed her soul. It infected her with its whims. It inflicted the greatest curse of humanity on her: it took what her tormentors did and remade her in their image…

_And then Savior's eyes cleared, suddenly and abruptly, and as Sizzle's eyes widened in surprise he rammed his head forward, slamming his forehead into her nose and sending her flying backwards with a surprised and painful squeal._

_"ROBIN GO!" Savior yelled, and Robin realized what Noel had done: he had drawn Sizzle away from him in order for Robin to make his last ditch effort. How Savior had known or guessed that was a mystery, once that Robin would ponder later as he only had seconds and what he had to do was extremely painful and yet it was the only way…_

_"ARGH!" Sizzle screamed on the floor._

_And Robin met her scream with his as he twisted violently and forcibly dislocated his left shoulder. The injury sent shockwaves of agony through his torso, but it also provided the leverage he needed to finally pull his hand out of the bonds above him. A hard yank freed his other hand, as the restraint was designed to keep both hands immobile and couldn't work with just one._

_"I'LL BURN YOU YOU…!" Sizzle was screaming as she got up, even as Robin tumbled to the floor, his badly damaged leg from the Lord's muscle extraction unable to hold his weight, but he didn't need that, all he needed to do was reach the emergency panel on his boot, hoping that while the Lord had been thorough he hadn't been thorough enough and that…_

_It snapped open._

_The small emergency Birdarang fell into his hand._

_Sizzle finally realized that Robin was free and turned away from Savior…_

_And Robin hurled the Birdarang, praying to all the gods of accuracy and luck that he…_

_The Birdarang slammed into Raven's hand restraints. It didn't sever them, but the part he needed to hit was scored, a direct bullseye._

_The part built into the restraints that blocked Raven's powers._

I never wanted to do it. I wish I could take it back. But for all my power, I can't. Much like for all her power and anger, Sizzle couldn't avoid what fate had in store for her…

_And Raven, having woken up and seen what Robin was doing before Sizzle had returned, was ready, as the table suddenly glowed black and flew through the air, the knives on it flying everywhere as it slammed into Sizzle and smashed her into the wall behind her with another scream._

_"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven chanted, as all the restraints holding the Titans glowed black and then were torn away._

_"YOU BASTARD!" Sizzle screamed as she threw the table off of her. The Lord's discarded katana lay near her, and she picked it up as fire exploded into being on her left hand. Robin was closest, and she fired a blast of intense heat at him._

_Shimmer strands flew out and wrapped into a shield form so quickly it seemed almost instantaneous, protecting Robin from the fire. Robin recoiled from the heat, and then the gods smiled at him again as the corner of his eye caught his utility belt hanging on the wall nearby. He hadn't been able to see it before because of the angle it was at compared to the point of view he had possessed when he had been tied up. With his one good leg he pushed out, rolling towards the belt, even as Raven, the only uninjured one, flew forward to confront Sizzle as the Shimmer strand retracted._

_And then it all happened at once._

_Sizzle abandoned her fire attack to charge at Raven with the Lord's katana._

_Raven blocked the slash with a quickly summoned black energy shield._

_Robin reached his belt and pulled it down, fumbling for the nearest weapon compartment, not caring what he got as long as he could use it._

_Raven took a step back as Sizzle raised the sword for another swing._

_The Shimmer lashing out._

_Robin grabbing a random disc, not knowing or caring what it was as he turned and threw as best he could._

_The Shimmer whacking the sword, knocking it out of Sizzle's hands._

_The disc missing Sizzle, flying past her._

_Raven reaching up and catching the sword on an impulse…_

I never wanted to hurt her. Not even with what she had done, with what she planned to do. I wanted to save my friends…

_As the heat disc Robin had drawn exploded behind Sizzle, the pyrokenetic completely focused on Raven and not knowing anything had been thrown behind her until it exploded, the blast wave throwing her forward…_

_As Raven's arms lowered the sword._

Sizzle…damned herself…

_SQUKILSH!_

And perhaps what makes it all the more tragic…was that I thought it ended there.

_The shock in Sizzle's eyes matched Raven's as Sizzle was impaled on the sword. But as Raven's eyes remained wide in shock at what had happened, at what she had just inadvertently done, Sizzle's shock turned to confusion._

_And then, the final expression, one that would haunt Raven the rest of her days, as Sizzle's face suddenly looked…happy._

_And then she was dead, her body dragging the sword out if Raven's hands as her corpse fell at Raven's feet._

_And Raven realized she hadn't just won a battle by a means she hadn't wanted to use but had happened by accident._

_She had just taken part in a very elaborate suicide ritual._

Or so I thought.

Then again, I never saw Murdercrow coming back either…

(The crowd that was milling around the mess of cars, many vehicles jammed together but not involved in worse then fender benders, was naturally drawn to the strange sight of the girl lying on the road, totally still. She breathed so slowly some of them thought she was dead, but anyone who attempted to touch her found out she wasn't, as black energy emerged from her form and slapped their hands away, even if they were good intentioned ones. So they watched her, but didn't get too close…)

Emotion is such a powerful thing. It can make people do the impossible, and for people like us, it can grant us miracles…but it can, like so many other things, become a curse. Sizzle…so angry at the male species…and the world in general…that she couldn't move on even after she did the only thing she thought would give her peace. And here we are, fighting her again…

Yet…I wonder…how?

I will not question her return from death: that is not an uncommon thing in our world. But what puzzles me is her power. Even if it is somehow fueled by anger…

(In the distance, a plan is being put into effect for twin minds, and one will be far more successful…)

Rage is mighty…but it doesn't explain this. How is Sizzle so strong? How can she generate so much fire? What drives her? That kind of power can't be pulled out of thin air, it has to come from somewhere…but where?

Could Sizzle be…

(And far away, a chain gun erupted)

Raven's eyes snapped wide open as the pain slammed into her. As an empath, Raven naturally felt the feelings of nearby people unless she was making a concentrated effort to block them, and she could deal with it…but this was different. She and Noel had spent years forging a deep bond, and as a result everything Noel felt Raven felt, and on top of that, the sensation of feeling someone your love's unique pain that was caused due to their ability made it even worse.

Raven's back actually jerked up like she was having a seizure, temporarily caught in the maelstrom, and everyone watching her jumped back with gasps and slight screams, as Raven spasmed for several seconds before she collapsed.

A pause. Raven was breathing normally now, heavily. A brave soul stepped forward to check on the woman again.

"Um…are you all right miss?"

"Yes…I am now…" Raven said.

Then her eyes opened again, glowing a deep black, as Raven slid up to her feet in a creepy, epileptic style, her body lifting off the ground in a ripple that started at her heels and went up her body before she was upright.

"But SHE'S DEAD." Raven snarled.

And then Raven flew off into the air, heading towards Sizzle. You want to know how mad she was? In the heat of the moment, she forgot it would be much quicker to teleport.

Ah, love. Such a many splendid thing.

* * *

Another thing that was splendid was the slashing roundhouse kick Danny was delivering to the front of Sizzle's helicopter. The recoil threw him backwards, but by now Danny was learning how to control it and spun upward with the backlash, backflipping and landing on a nearby roof. By now, his body had clearly realized that his brain wasn't going to be listening to him in regards to its inability to keep doing what he was doing and had stopped telling him anything. On one hand this meant no more pain, but on the other hand it meant Danny might keep pushing himself until his heart exploded. But Danny knew, deep down, that while he may have been granted one last chance it was about to run out. He had to break that shield! 

"Come on Sizzle! What are you afraid?" Danny yelled, flying up as he prepared to attack as soon as Sizzle rose up next to the roof.

She did.

With a newly retracted chain gun and armed missiles.

"Nuts." Danny said.

The chain gun erupted even as the missiles fired, four of them, and the entire rooftop exploded, consuming Danny Phantom…and then he rocketed out on a green stream of power, even as he laced his fists together and did a giant roundhouse swing into the shield. The impact rang through the helicopter, as well as sending Danny spinning backwards through the air. As he flew off into the distance, Sizzle hissed at him and locked two more Hellfire missiles on him.

Danny stopped and righted himself as they flew. His eyes grew dark, and then spectral fire appeared on his hands and he thrust them out. Streams of green energy fired from his hands and enveloped the missiles, and Danny could actually see the energy peeling the metal off the two projectiles before they exploded ten feet from him. The shockwave sent him back another dozen feet, and Danny hunched over, taking deep breaths. Down to fumes again…but he couldn't give up…

And then Sizzle was flying through the smoke, and Danny yelped and dove down and away at the last second to avoid Sizzle ramming the front of the helicopter right into him. He turned and swooped towards the street…

The first several gunshots barely missed him…thing was, these shots were coming from the street. Danny yelped and turned around.

"FREEZE! GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!"

Amity Park's finest had finally arrived, a squadron of cop cars all parked and the police officers behind them, armed with whatever they had. And despite their yell, it was clear they were there to shoot first and ask questions later, as they opened fire on Danny. Danny decided to check if his intangibility power was still disabled.

It was.

Good thing he checked it while he was moving, as he zoomed to the side and flew along the building, not sure what to do…

And then Sizzle lowered herself down near the ground at the end of the street. Naturally, the cops noticed the machine, and most started shooting at it. Danny's eyes widened at this.

"Argh. More fucking interference!" Sizzle cursed, and started down the street, the bullets bouncing off the armor and even off the clear surface of her cockpit. Whatever it was made of, it wasn't glass.

"No! No!" Danny yelled, and then he flew down. "Her armor is…ACK!" Danny squawked as the several officers close to him turned and started shooting at him. Can you blame them? They were scared out of their wits. Danny flew up to avoid the shots and saw Sizzle was getting close.

"RUN! RUN! SHE'LL KILL YOU!" Danny screamed, but his scream was lost in the sound of the helicopter approaching. Not knowing what else to do, he dug down deep again and unleashed another great ectoblast at the Fenton-copter.

It didn't stop her, and as the reflection caught Danny and sent him flying across the street, crashing back first into another building's brick façade, Sizzle activated her chain gun at the same time. Finally getting it, the cops ran for their lives as Sizzle fired the chain gun into their cars, destroying them like they were toys. Officers ran and dove and in some case flew as the street was consumed with explosions.

Danny pulled himself off the building, but he was dazed and unable to react…so when Sizzle flew from the smoke and turned to avoid hitting the place Danny was, the wind from the rotors blew him backwards and down another street. Sizzle had briefly forgotten about Danny: her current target was the second battalion of cops that had been parked on the other side of the street she had just blown Danny down. These were a few more cop cars and two SWAT vans, with several dozen officers ready and waiting, and they greeted Sizzle was heavy firepower.

Not that it mattered: nothing short of a rail gun was going to put a dent in her vehicle. Did I mention the Fentons REALLY built the F.U.M.B.L.E well? Sizzle smiled that terrible smile again, and then armed two more missiles.

"Gonna make it rain PORK RINDS!" She crowed.

"NOOOOO!" Danny screamed as the missiles launched, and he tried to hit them with a pair of ectoblasts, but he couldn't get the angle right, and the blasts missed. All Danny could do was watch in horror as the missiles flew down and detonated in amongst the officers and vehicles, everything being consumed in explosions.

"No…" Danny whispered. They'd just been doing their job, without any superpowers…how could he have failed…

The smoke cleared.

Sizzle's eyes widened.

Where she expected to see a smoking crater, there was instead a massive dome of black energy, a dome that tore apart to reveal a group of very stunned police officers looking at the purple cloaked floating girl who had appeared in their midst.

"Sorry guys, I need to borrow these." Raven said, as she raised her arms. "Azarath…"

The police cars and SWAT trucks became encased in black energy. "Metrion…" The vehicles began to rise into the air, and finally realizing they were out of their league, the officers all began clearing out. "ZINTHOS!"

And the automobiles flew at Sizzle.

"Fuck a duck." Sizzle said.

The vehicle barrage sent the Fenton-copter into its craziest spin yet, but even as the aircraft went nuts and Danny's heart leapt into his throat again, Raven wasn't done. Her eyes glowing ever brighter, she thrust her hands out. A black energy claw shot from a nearby building, an absolutely gigantic one, reaching and grabbing the Fenton-copter, and before Sizzle knew what was happening Raven yanked her arms up and the claw hurled the helicopter into the air like a football. Sizzle shrieked as her machine flew upward, doing all kinds of crazy moves that came dangerously close to sending the vehicle completely out of control. Raven flew up after it, ready to grab Maddie Fenton if Sizzle couldn't regain control of the helicopter. In the end, though, she did, so Raven reverted back to her previous plan, which could be summed up in the monosyllabic words of another universe's superhero: HULK SMASH.

Danny flew up next to Raven, and she glanced at him, her hood having blown back at some point during the battle.

"Your plan?" She asked.

"I…smash her shield…but I'm…tired…" Danny said.

Raven's hand was suddenly gripping Danny's front, and in the next few seconds Danny suddenly felt a lot better. He wasn't back in tip-top shape, but he certainly felt he could go a few more rounds, and he looked at Raven.

"What did you do?"

"Took some of your exhaustion into my own body. Don't worry, I've got energy to BURN." Raven said, as Sizzle finally found her targets again. Her little trip had put her back into a screaming mad rage.

"JUST DIE!" she shrieked as she opened up with the chain gun. Raven and Danny flew apart from each other, the bullets flying where they had just been. Danny did an ultra quick circle around the Fenton-copter and let loose with a storm of ectoblasts, staying away so he didn't get hit by the echo effect, and then Raven, having done a slower circle, fired a huge black energy bolt after him, smashing the helicopter back. Sizzle screamed and fired off two missiles: Danny took them out before they reached Raven as she fired several follow up telepathic blasts. Sizzle blasted at her with the chain gun, but Raven disappeared into a portal of dark power, and then Danny lanced in, ramming both his feet into the front of the Fenton-copter and sending it into another spin even as he flew off into the distance from the recoil. Sizzle screamed wordless curses, and when Raven showed up in front of her when she righted the helicopter again, Sizzle fired off a missile. Raven didn't move this time: instead she reached out with her right hand. The missile became encased in dark power, yet continued to fly at Raven.

Who waved her hand slightly to the right, even as she jerked her head to the left. The missile passed right next to her shoulder, flying past her due to the slight nudge she had given it, and as it flew on behind her, Raven clenched her fist. The missile was crushed, and then exploded, as Raven looked at Sizzle with a classic "That all you got?" look.

Sizzle screamed and fired off another missile.

Raven raised both her hands this time and did several quick motions. A black portal of energy appeared before her, and the missile flew into it, disappearing from sight. Sizzle blinked, and then Raven raised her hands and the portal appeared over her, and the missile flew back out, heading straight for Sizzle.

"NOT THIS AGAIN!"

The missile hit, the helicopter spun, Sizzle cursed, the usual. By now the computer was constantly telling her the helicopter should exit combat soon, it was in dire need of repairs, but Sizzle ignored it as she fought with the stick and managed to get the helicopter righted.

And found herself staring at Raven and Danny, back to back, each holding out an arm towards her.

"…Well gosh." Sizzle said, out of curses.

Danny and Raven fired, a blast of green and black power that combined into one mammoth strike that smashed into the front of the helicopter. Forget a spin: the helicopter did its best impression of a Beyblade as smoke exploded from the machine again, as it staggered, and then started heading for the ground, finally on the verge of crashing.

"Mom!" Danny said, and then he started violently coughing. Raven looked at him.

"You're almost completely out of it Danny. You hold back, I'll get your mother. I promise." Raven said, as she flew off after the helicopter, Danny following.

"DAMMIT FUCK! COMPUTER, HELP ME OUT HERE!" Sizzle screamed as she tried to get her falling metal bird its wings back.

"Please insert toast!" The computer chimed merrily.

"WHAT?"

"Mrs. Fenton, you know I wasn't built to bend that way!"

"What the fuck is YOUR problem?"

"Please press Control-Alt-Delete!" The computer merrily replied.

"Great, the comp's been knocked loopy. The girls always have to do all the heavy lifting alone." Sizzle cursed. She was just about to pass the tops of the tall buildings of Amity Park: from there it was only a short distance to the street and a big boom, but Sizzle wasn't going to let that happen, as she wrestled and yanked at the controls so hard she was lucky she didn't rip them right out of the helicopter.

And, by whatever dark god was watching over her, she managed to get the helicopter under control. She flew back up a few feet, unable to see how badly battered and burned the outside of the machine was, but she didn't much care. What she cared about was the two targets that had swung down in front of her when they realized she wasn't going to crash. She ground her teeth…and then, looking behind them, she had an idea.

"I think a few more knocks on the shield should do it in. I'll make those knocks." Raven said, as she raised her hands.

And then two more missiles were flying at the pair.

"I think she'd rather slam the door in our faces!" Danny said, as he concentrated. More spectral fire exploded on his hands, and a blast knocked the missile from the air, sending it crashing into the street. A strange feeling flowed through Danny at that, and he knew what it meant: ok kid, we gave you your final burst, but we're tired and we're going to go home. Just a warning. Raven, meanwhile, had grabbed the second missile and ripped it apart.

And then the second volley came.

And went over their heads.

"WHAT THE?" Danny yelled, as he turned and saw the missiles fly on…right towards the skyscraper whose rooftop Sizzle had nearly chopped Danny to pieces on. Danny's eyes widened.

"She's aiming for people!" He yelled.

"Ah, the sadistic choice. I love my job." Sizzle said, and commanded the struts to reload. "How many missiles do I have left?"

"Um chomp chomp munch…sorry, you caught me eating…" The computer said.

"NUMBER OF MISSILES LEFT!"

"Archie Andrews is the smartest student in Riverdale High! He has an IQ of 638!"

"TELL ME OR YOU'LL GET A FIRST HAND LOOK AT THE INSIDE OF A VOLCANO!"

"I like to have eggs on my pants!"

"Forget it!" Sizzle said: she figured she was almost out…though she'd just been using the Hellfires so far, she hadn't used the Sidewinders yet…

At the moment though, Danny was more concerned about the Hellfires, the ones that were flying towards the office building that might have been emptied by now but could very well still have a bunch of employees inside being slave driven by a bunch of a cruel, empty headed CEO's and he turned to ask Raven what they should do…

And found she was gone.

"………Oh." Danny said, automatically knowing he was on his own again.

The building was indeed still full of employees…some of who had begun noticing the missiles heading towards them, but just before panic could start, Raven appeared from the shadows in their midst, looking around to verify, yes, there were a bunch of people there and if she didn't do something they were all dead as they began to scream…

"DAAMMMMNNNNNN!" Raven cursed, and thrust out her hands. A massive shield of black energy appeared in front of several of the building's floors.

The missiles slammed into them, and the windows behind the shield exploded as the shockwave rang through the shield and through Raven. She staggered back, and then the shield disappeared as glass fell to the ground in a shower and all the employees gaped in amazement at what had just happened.

"Sometimes…I hate being nice…" Raven said, and then she fell on her back again, out of it.

Danny, meanwhile, had turned back to Sizzle, and with her missiles being reloaded she reverted to the chain gun. Danny dodged upward and fired off another stream of ectoblasts, knocking the helicopter back…and the feeling flowed through him again.

It was time.

Danny knew it. Strangely, he wasn't afraid. In fact, he felt rather peaceful, as he flew up to a nearby roof. He knew Sizzle would be following him, but he didn't care, as he reached behind him and unstrapped the Fenton Thermos, laying it down on the ground. He looked at his boot, and saw that yes, The Fenton Mini Ghost Catcher was back. Danny removed it and laid it down…

And circles of power appeared over him, sliding over his form and returning him to Danny Fenton.

Human once more, and out of miracles this time. If he survived this battle, it would be as how he was born. He picked up the Thermos and Mini Ghost Catcher and began backing up.

He had just about hit the edge of the roof when he heard it, and then Sizzle rose up before him.

She cocked her head. The boy was human again. And he wasn't running.

Instead, as Sizzle appeared, Danny raised the hand holding the Fenton Mini Ghost Catcher and made a "come on" motion, or maybe in the words of Dwayne Johnson, "Just Bring It".

Sizzle smirked. Well, ask and yee shall receive…

"And may this send you to hell so fast you're there an hour before the devil knows you're dead." Sizzle said, as her latest set of Hellfires finished arming. She locked four onto Danny Fenton.

"I won't die." Danny said.

"Says who?" Sizzle replied, and fired.

The missiles fired.

And wind caught Danny's hair and clothes as the T-Ship rose up from behind Danny, a metal orange guardian angel, as Sizzle's eyes budged out.

"Says us." Savior replied.

Lasers fired from the T-Ship and blew up the missiles in mid air.

"Surprise surprise!" Cyborg whooped from the other cockpit. "Now little lady, let me show you what a REAL pilot can do!" The teen machine said, even as he repeated a gesture Sizzle had done roughly a million times in the past 30 minutes: flip open a shield on his pilot stick and press a button.

Twin beams fired from the T-Ship and struck the Fenton-copter, and Sizzle yelped/screamed as the whole thing started shaking like a caffeine addict in need of a hit.

"Seismic blasters! Booyah!" Cyborg whooped.

"Victor, that's to destroy rock! What good is it going to do on an aircraft?" Savior asked.

"Besides making it shake like a Mexican space shuttle? Well, nothing, but I'll bet the bitch isn't happy!"

Indeed, Sizzle was not, as she cursed and spat, trying to get her machine to stop shaking. By now she was used to spinning and jerking, but not being shook like she was a Christmas present.

"Whoo! Shake it up baby! Twist and shout!" The computer said.

"SHUT UP!" Sizzle yelled.

Danny was turning to look up at the T-Ship when a small part of the underside slid open and a strange purple beam slid out. It was rather more like water then a beam, as it flowed over to Danny and then suddenly he was encased in it, albeit not painfully.

"Huh?" Danny said.

"That's our tractor beam Danny." Savior said, spooking Danny as it sounded like he was speaking right into his ear (in reality it was a miniaturized radio transmitter that Savior had fired onto his shoulder while the tractor beam was emerging). "It'll get you out of harm's way…though I'm afraid it won't be a fun trip…"

"Huh…" Danny said, and then found himself jerked off his feet as the T-Ship turned around. "Aw man, NOT THIS AGAIN!"

The T-Ship flew off, dragging poor Danny under it, as Sizzle finally recovered from her little experience as a macarana, and with a snarling scream she took off after the T-Ship.

"She's on us." Cyborg said.

"Opening up line of communication." Savior said from his cockpit.

Sizzle jerked back when her glass screen suddenly opened up a see-through hologram of Savior sitting in his chair.

"This is our only offer Sizzle." Savior said as the T-Ship turned onto a new street, making the turn a lot smoother then Sizzle did. "Surrender now, and we'll try and get you help. Keep trying to kill us, and suffer complete and utter destruction. There is no Door Number 3." Savior said calmly, look at his own vid screen of Sizzle sitting in her cockpit (one of the things Cyborg had done while flying over here was preparing a hacked communication line to be zapped into Sizzle's aircraft).

Sizzle, for a moment, seemed stunned.

And then, as she turned the corner that the T-Ship just had, that smile broke out again, the kind a famous character who stole Christmas might have been able to make if he was also the bastard love child of the Marquis De Sade…and suffering from rabies. Savior was glad Danny couldn't see his mother making that expression: it was the kind of thing that landed you on a shrink couch for years.

"Complete and utter destruction? SOUNDS GOOD TO ME!" Sizzle yelled, as she finally slid her hands over to a button she hadn't had a chance to use yet. AIM-9 Sidewinders are air to air missiles, and the Hellfires had been working fine for the boy, so Sizzle had kept up with those, but now she had a proper air target, and with a yell that was part joy and part violent fury, she launched the four Sidewinders at the T-Ship.

"You're a mean one, Mrs. Bitch." Savior muttered, and then his chair rotated 180 degrees so he could see behind him, switching the piloting fully over to Cyborg. Danny was yammering at him, but he didn't have time for that so he pressed a few buttons on his dashboard and switched it to Cyborg. Let HIM deal with it.

"Bogies on our ass Noel!" Cyborg yelled over the personal com link the two of them shared.

"I see them." Savior replied calmly.

"Well do something about them!" Cyborg yelled as the missiles flew in close on his radar.

"Just…a…min…launching flares!" Savior said, as he pressed a button. Bright red lights fired from the back of the T-Ship, and the Sidewinders immediately changed direction and went for them, the explosion ringing out behind the T-Ship as it flew around a corner…

"Wait, I don't think our bogey was still behind us." Savior said.

And then, at the end of the street the T-Ship was currently flying down, Sizzle came roaring around the corner.

"That's because SHE'S IN FRONT OF US!" Cyborg yelled.

"Second course!" Sizzle said, as she fired off a new quartet of Sidewinders.

"Put us in reverse." Savior said as he spun back to face the front of their plane. He flicked several switches, and then his cockpit rose up from the T-Ship slightly as twin guns extended from the new bulge that had appeared below him. Controls slid into his hands.

"All right, let's see if all those hours of Wing Commander can be useful." Savior said, and began firing small, concentrated lasers. Two of the missiles went up in flames almost immediately, but the third and forth proved tricky and elusive, even as the T-Ship was rapidly running out of room to back up.

"Argh! They're coming in too fast!" Savior said, and then winced as he realized what he had just said. He continued to fire at the missiles, but he just couldn't hit them.

"Less then fifty feet until impact!" Cyborg yelled, in regards to their backing up.

"Ah fuck this." Savior said, as he reached over and flipped a few switches, changing his controls from the lasers to the seismic blasters, which he pointed at a 30 degree angle and fired, right into the ground. The ground erupted in a mass of rocks and dirt…that the missiles flew right into and crashed, exploding.

"Ah. My motto has always been, be prepared." Savior said.

"I thought that was the Boy Scout's motto." Cyborg replied.

"The little creeps stole it from me! Remind me to sue!"

"Yeah well, the big creep is heading right for us!" Cyborg said, indicating the helicopter.

"180 degree spin, full thrusters. I'm going to drop off the rookie." Savior said, as he began undoing his harness.

"What do you mean…"

Savior formed Shimmer goggles over his eyes and then he actually opened his cockpit window. The rushing air tore at him as he stood up and placed his hands on the side, and then rungs of a Shimmer ladder appeared across and under the ship. Since the material stuck to his hands and feet like the greatest glue ever invented, and Savior could hold his body close to the ship with other lines, he had no problems crawling under the ship and to where Danny was still getting dragged by the tractor beam. His eyes widened.

"Has Marvel ever considered a lawsuit, considering how much you rip them off?" Danny yelled. Savior ignored the comment, as he took one hand off the "rungs" and more Shimmer lines fired from it, wrapping around Danny.

"Ok Danny, one question. Can you turn back?" Savior asked. Danny looked at Savior, seeing how his face and shirt collar were still crusted with blood from the knock he had taken, and he shook his head.

"Ok then. We are going to set you down, don't worry, you'll be fine! Then, we are going to smash the shield around that damn machine and use this very tractor beam to pull your mother out! Then we'll deal with Sizzle! Understand?"

"What about the…!" Danny yelled back.

"No time! Good luck kid!" Savior yelled, and then suddenly the purple energy holding Danny disappeared and he found himself falling towards the ground, wrapped up in white energy…and then he jerked to a stop just before he hit, and then the energy was gone, and he fell the last few feet to the ground, landing on his feet. Deciding that it wouldn't be in the best if Sizzle saw him, Danny quickly hid on the roof, and watched the smoking, banged up Fenton-copter fly over and past him. He sighed and decided that all he could do now was pray.

"The package has been delivered." Savior said as he slipped back into the cockpit.

"Ok, shall we proceed with the plan?" Cyborg asked.

"Yes. On your mark." Savior said.

"Beginning separation." Cyborg said.

"Ok you fucks, let's see…" Sizzle was saying, and then she gaped at the T-Ship twisted a bit, and then one of the wings actually broke off and flew off on its own. The wing sprouted a few new extensions, and suddenly it was an aircraft all by itself. The remaining, larger piece spouted a few new parts as well to help it keep flying. Suddenly, Sizzle found herself faced with not one but two attackers, both looking like ship designs rejected for _Star Wars_.

"All right Victor. You shake, I'll bake." Savior said.

"Oh, don't you think that choice of words would be bad luck?" Came a new voice, and Savior looked down to see Sizzle's face had appeared on his vid-screen. He grimaced slightly: stupid girl figured out how to reverse the communication line. Well, no matter: if she decided to yell at him he'd block her out.

"No, I find it quite apt." Savior said.

And then Cyborg flew in and fired a line of small but potent laser blasts along Sizzle's side. Sizzle forgot what she was going to say to Savior and tried to turn, her connection cutting out…only to find Cyborg was now behind her, pelting her with more shots. Sizzle snarled and tried to lock onto him, but he was already flying away…and then Savior flew in, three double-barreled cannons booming as they fired several power shots into the Fenton-copter. The inside of the cockpit erupted with sparks, and Sizzle screamed.

"Argh! What the fuck do I do?"

"Infiltrate the building. Destroy Metal Gear!" The computer told her. The only reason Sizzle didn't melt it right then and there was because Cyborg was flying back, buzzing her with more blasts. She tried locking onto him, but he was just too quick, zipping in and out, and before she knew it he was flown off again and Savior had come by for another strafe. The cockpit filled with sparks again, and Sizzle, having run out of curses, started inventing new ones.

"Fuckers…think…wait…" Sizzle said, as she saw she was in the middle of a very long street. Cyborg had flown down one end of it and was zipping towards her.

Then she had an idea.

"Booyah baby, you can't see me!" Cyborg said, actually taking a hand away from his controls to wave them in front of his face.

His words proved prophetic, as Sizzle literally couldn't see him: she was turning the Fenton-copter away from him. Cyborg arched an eyebrow, but he couldn't do anything as he was too close, so he zoomed under Sizzle, firing a few shots into her underside with his rotating cannon, and flew on.

And then his cockpit alarms went off, and his remaining veins filled with ice as he realized what Sizzle had done: turned herself around so she could get a lock on him the second he flew past her.

"Oh shit! Savior, I think I may be in trouble here!" Cyborg yelled, as Savior swooped in behind Sizzle.

"Stay on target." Savior replied, meaning keep doing what you were doing. Savior had a near perfect aim at the helicopter's tail rotor: if he managed to hit it with all three of his cannons even the extremely tough armor wouldn't protect it from being blown off, and without the tail, the machine would go into a spin and crash in a way that Mrs. Fenton could survive.

"Savior I'm not kidding! This thing has weak armor, I could be blown to bits!"

"STAY ON TARGET." Savior said through clenched teeth of concentration.

"There once was a robot who thought he could fly, why oh why did he think he could fly…I guess he'll die." Sizzle sang, and fired off four more Sidewinders.

"AH! NOEL! REALLY! HELP!"

"STAY ON TARGET…" Savior said, more to himself, as he almost had everything lined up…

"DAMMIT NOEL! I SAID I NEED HELP!"

"….Right. Damn it." Savior said as he broke the lock and zoomed over Sizzle, switching the lock to the missiles chasing Cyborg. Three simultaneous shots took out three of them, but there was no time to stop the forth, and it slammed into Cyborg. His yell rang through Savior's ears, as the T-Wing flew out of a cloud of smoke, lurching and looking ready to crash.

And Savior was suddenly aware that the Fenton-copter had flown up behind him.

"SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!" Sizzle crowed, and opened up with the chain gun. Bullets tore through the T-Main, and Savior cursed as he twisted the controls and tried to get away. He did, but not before getting riddled fairly badly…

And then one of the bullets pierced through the cockpit, and for a second that seemed like a year, Savior was sharing the same small space as a rapidly bouncing 30mm round…and then, almost on its own, a Shimmer strand sprang out of one of Savior's eyes and grabbed the shattered but still deadly bullet…right before it was about to go through Savior's head.

Savior couldn't help but stare at the bullet for a few seconds, a bullet he could have never caught on his own…but sometimes, the Shimmer knew things, especially when it came to protecting the brain and spinal cord, where some people theorized it "lived". Finally snapping out of it, Savior tossed the bullet aside and headed for Victor…and then he was aware that alarms were telling him that four more Sidewinder missiles were on his tail. Looking at Cyborg, who looked to be about five seconds away from getting a rude re-introduction to Mother Earth, and back at the missiles, Savior cursed and dumped all the remaining flares rather then concentrating on the careful moves that would let him disable the missiles without wasting them. As the missiles blew up behind him, Savior flew up to Cyborg, and the two ships recombined and reformed into the T-Ship.

"You ok Victor?" Savior asked.

"Dammit Noel, I know how you think, but don't be pulling that shit with me!" Cyborg cursed back. Savior sighed.

"Sorry. Tactical error."

"Yeah but…uh oh! Our friend is back!" Cyborg said, as the T-Ship was joined from behind by the Fenton-copter.

"Take over the flight, I used up all the flares so I'll have to manually shoot down the missiles." Savior said, as he prepared to activate his personal gunning cockpit again.

There was a loud crackling noise and a curse from Cyborg.

"What was that?"

"Something's wrong! I can't recalibrate the flight controls to me! Something must have been damaged by the missiles!" Cyborg cursed.

"You mean I have to fly AND run defense?" Savior replied.

Laughing, Sizzle fired off four more missiles.

"YES!" Cyborg yelled. Savior only sighed.

And as they turned the corner for a new street, he spun around as Shimmer strands grabbed the flight controls for him, and as his cockpit lifted slightly, Savior used another strand to turn off the communicator that connected him to Cyborg. He'd need total concentration for this.

The missiles followed him around the corner, and Savior opened fire again. Not able to really do anything considering he was flying blind, Savior kept the T-Ship in a straight course forward as he concentrated on the missiles. One went down quickly, but the other three were tricky. Savior could feel sweat running down his face, and he recalled that his early outfits had included a sweat band. Why hadn't he kept that anyway…

Another missile finally went up, the third followed quickly. Savior glanced at Sizzle to see if she was planning to send any more friends, and not seeing anything, he turned back to the forth missile, and closing one eye, he lined up a shot…

Boom, up in flames it went. Feeling satisfied, Savior disarmed the gunner controls and turned forward…

And found out the hard way that he shouldn't have turned off the communicator: it had blocked Cyborg's more and more frantic screams about what Savior was doing flying blind.

Which was keep going until he was about ten feet from a skyscraper.

"Oops. A wall." Savior said, and yanked the stick back as hard as he could. Cyborg's mechanical genius showed as the T-Ship, originally a submarine, had been converted so well that it could not only pull off such an insane high-G maneuver, it could do it quickly without falling apart. Even so, as Savior went straight up the side of the skyscraper, the underside of the T-Ship maybe 2 cm from the glass, he remarked that that had been sloppy. What was wrong with him? He was ignoring teammates, running off half cocked, such behavior was more fitting for Gauntlet or Robin when he was in a Slade fugue, as Savior turned the communicator back on.

"AND THE MOST REPREHENSIBLE…!" Cyborg was bellowing.

"SAVE it Cyborg. Yell at me later."

"I just got grey hairs! Do you want to know what's remarkable about that? I DON'T HAVE HAIR!" Cyborg yelled, as the T-Ship zipped past the top of the skyscraper and went into the sky.

Sizzle watched them go up as she stopped at the helicopter's base, and then she snorted and twisted the stick, flying off to the side. She'd circle for a bit, and if they didn't come down, she'd go back to hunting for the boy…

"I take it all back! You're a…hey, how long are we going to keep going straight up?" Cyborg said.

"Another four seconds." Savior replied. "And Victor, really. When this is done, you can yell. Ok?"

"Uh…" Cyborg said, having lost his train of thought, and then the engines cut off. "Oh no, please tell me you did that."

"I did." Savior replied. "Ok Victor, we have a few seconds of hang time, let's review."

"Review what? It can sum it up in two words: NOTHING WORKEE! Who built that thing, Hephaestus?" Cyborg cursed. "That shield just won't break, and neither will that armor! Missiles don't work! Lasers don't work! My cannon didn't work, the Starbolts, thrown cars, whatever that Danny kid uses, NOTHING! I don't know what kind of impact would be needed to break that shield, but I doubt we have it!"

Savior didn't reply.

"Noel? You still conscious?" Cyborg asked.

"Yeah." Savior replied: by now the front end of the ship was starting to tilt down, the motion the front heavy aircraft would do before it plunged back to Earth. "Just thinking. I have a plan."

"Oh really! Great!"

"And I just want to say…Victor, I'm sorry."

"Huh?" Cyborg replied, turning his head as he saw Savior pressing a series of buttons in his cockpit. "What do you mean you're…"

And then Cyborg's roof hatch exploded off.

"SORRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYY!" Cyborg screamed as his chair suddenly ignited and flew out of the T-Ship, Savior having manually activated his ejector seat.

"Sorry Victor." Savior replied as he pressed a few more buttons, and then, instead of extending out, Savior's cockpit actually retracted into the T-Ship, the cockpit in the middle doing likewise. Several seconds later, Savior emerged in the middle one, as the ship plummeted back to Earth.

"I didn't want to do that, but you'd never let me do this with you on board." Savior said, and reignited the jets, flying back down to Amity Park.

Cyborg was doing his own flying, as his chair flew up and through the air, and Cyborg, finally realizing what Savior had pulled, started cursing again.

"You know Noel, I love you man, BUT YOUR )( PLANS NEED A OF WORK!" Cyborg yelled, as he prepared to pull the cord that would activate his parachute. "And furthermore…!"

Cyborg pulled the cord.

And it came off in his hand.

Cyborg stared at it.

"That can't be good."

And then the chair broke apart. Sizzle's lone missile had done more damage then Cyborg had known, or Savior, and before Cyborg knew what had happened the entire framework had disintegrated, taking Cyborg's parachute with it and leaving him in freefall.

And did I mention that when fixing himself, Cyborg has to scrap his jets?

Cyborg immediately began hailing Savior to turn around and grab him, then realized that Savior would have immediately turned the communicator off so he couldn't hear Cyborg complain what he had done…not realizing that he was leaving Cyborg to an extremely messy fate.

Give Victor Stone credit though, he didn't panic. Instead, he reached over and turned on his arm that allowed him to communicate with the Titans's normal devices.

"Cyborg here. I am currently 1500 feet above this city, with no parachute, no jets, and since I am currently reaching terminal velocity, no way to grab or grapple anything without ripping my arm off, so, if there are any fliers in the vicinity, I could use an immediate pickup, as I would like to remind you that without any of the three aforementioned items I am incapable of flying. AT ALL!" Cyborg yelled as he plunged past the top of Amity Park's skyscrapers. "NOW WOULD BE GOOD!"

The street rushed up…

"AHHHHH FUUUCCCKKKKK!"

And black energy appeared beneath Cyborg. The next second, he was gone.

* * *

Danny hadn't been able to observe much of the battle: the two machines kept flying behind buildings and he had lost both of them about two minutes ago. So, while frantically trying to find them, you can forgive him for being immensely shocked when a portal opened up near him and Raven stepped out with Cyborg. 

"AHHHUUUHHHHH!" Cyborg said: being stopped from terminal velocity by some kind of mystical mumbo jumbo wasn't the most pleasant thing.

"Yikes! What are you doing here? I thought you were in the plane!" Danny said.

"Operative word being WERE, DAMMIT SAVIOR!" Cyborg yelled, as he pulled away from Raven, looking at his arm. "I am going to tell you even IF you have me blocked…"

"I think he's busy." Raven said, and Cyborg turned to follow her pointing finger.

Savior had appeared on a street in the distance to the far right, Sizzle having found him and once again on his tail, firing at him with the chain gun, but Savior quickly outran it, turned the T-Ship along a street that ran horizontally parallel to the one the Titans were standing over, which allowed them to see what was happening, and zipped all the way to the end of the street (one thing the T-Ship had over the Fenton-Copter: speed).

"What's he doing?" Danny asked.

"Not sure, but if he had to eject me…" Cyborg began.

"Are you there people?" Savior suddenly said from Raven's communicator, and everyone jumped. Raven managed to unhook her communicator to use before one of the males grabbed it.

"Savior, what are…"

"Are all civilians evacuated from the area below?" Savior asked.

"What?"

"Are all civilians evacuated from the area below?" Savior repeated.

"Well…I believe so Savior." Raven said.

"Good." Savior said, and signed off.

And then the T-ship did an abrupt U-Turn as Sizzle came around the corner in the Fenton-Copter. Danny's eyes widened.

"What's he doing?"

Savior watched as the helicopter came fully into his view, the aircraft so battered and banged up and yet still flying. But Savior knew what would bring it down.

And he knew the cost of his choices to use that tactic. But…he felt he had no other choice. It had to be done, and he would do it.

He recalled how Raven had said it, and a wistful, yet sad look appeared on his face.

"Yeah…funny how it gets in the blood."

And then he hit the afterburners.

"……Oh god he's playing chicken." Cyborg said.

"WHAT? NO! NOOOOOO!" Danny yelled as he grabbed Raven's communicator and flipped it open: the short time between the ending of the last conversation and this one automatically re-opened the channel. "SAVIOR, MY MOTHER'S IN THERE! STOP! STOP!"

Savior turned off the link and blocked the communicator, turning cold eyes towards his target as it approached him. Despite Danny's fear, he knew exactly what he was doing. This street was closely hemmed in: to dodge him, Sizzle had to move, and there was no way to move quickly upward and no way to move sideways without crashing. Which is what Savior wanted: he was certain a crash would take care of that damn shield. He already had the tractor beam controls under his palm, ready to grab Maddie Fenton and pull her from the machine before it completely crashed, and he would, he would, because if he didn't…he wouldn't fail. He would not

Danny didn't much care how determined Savior was not to screw up though, as he screamed and threw the communicator away, and he reached deep within himself and tried to find the power to go ghost again, to stop this…

But though the spirit was willing, perhaps as willing as any man or boy had ever been in the ages…the flesh was completely, utterly beat. Sometimes, no matter how much you want it, you just can't change things.

"STOP HIM! HE'LL KILL HER!" Danny screamed.

"I dunno about that, but what the HELL! SAVIOR! THAT IS TOO DAMN RISKY! STOP! STOP!" Cyborg yelled into his arm communicator: if Savior heard him he did not reply.

The see-through viewscreen flicked on across Savior's cockpit shield, revealing the battered but determined face of Sizzle, Maddie Fenton's features glittering with a mad joy.

"Well, look who it is! The pig has decided to play chicken!" Sizzle said, as the two vehicles approached each other above the broken, wreckage strewed street. "It looks like your higher ideals to protect innocent victims just apply to the ones with a penis, I see!"

Savior didn't answer, as the two ships bore down on each other. Sizzle's mad joy faded a bit, replaced by a more sociopathic determination.

"Whatever you may think of me shithead, know THIS: I AM A WARRIOR. If you are expecting me to blink, FORGET IT." Sizzle snarled, as the T-Ship flew at her, and Sizzle pushed the throttle to make her own forward charge. "And know that if you're gambling that your ship will prove to have tougher armor then mine, know damn well that smashing these ships together WILL result in this woman's death, while I will just be required to find a new host. Is that not a pointless sacrifice to make?"

Savior said nothing, his eyes hard and his hands not wavering from the controls.

The two aircrafts were now less then five seconds from impact.

And Sizzle chuckled.

"Well now, I guess you've made up your mind." Sizzle chuckled. "I'll see you in hell."

Three seconds to impact…

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Danny screamed.

Two seconds…

"Damn." Savior said.

And he yanked the T-Ship in an insanely tight turn, pulling it up on it's side and just managing to get through the gap between the Fenton-copter and the building, Savior's glass dome literally a millimeter from the glass of the skyscraper, and then it was past Sizzle and turning a few rapid spins as it flew off, even as Sizzle yanked the throttle and spun the helicopter in a tight circle so her front was facing the fleeing back end of the T-Ship.

"Funny…" Sizzle said "In the end I'm the one with the stones."

And she locked her missiles and fired.

"AH FUCKKKKKK!" Cyborg yelled as she saw the new cluster of missiles, both Hellfire and Sidewinder, twelve in all, launch from the Fenton-copter and head after the T-Ship. "SAVIOR YOU IDIOT!"

"Oh no. If your plane gets hit and goes down in a populated area, it'll kill hundreds!You have to stop the missiles!" Danny yelled, and almost grabbed Raven and threw her off the building before she pulled his hand away.

"If we leave Sizzle alone, the same if more innocents will be at risk, not to mention you Danny." Raven said.

"WHAT? You're saying because of your so called leader's tactical error people are dead either way?" Danny said.

"I didn't say that." Raven replied.

"Could very well be Rae: we already used up all the flares. I doubt Savior can fly and shoot them all down, and if he can't do that eventually the missiles are either going to hit him or something else."

"Yeah, if your boyfriend used up all the anti-missile defenses, what's he going to do now?" Danny asked.

Raven's face was hard.

"His job."

Savior looked at the radar screen that informed him that no less then twelve bogies were on his tail, and he was now over a non-evacuated area of Amity Park. So even if he engaged in acrobatic fanciness, the missiles had to hit something if they missed him.

His eyes sharing the same hard look Raven's had, he made his choice. This was his bed and he was going to lie in it, as he reached over and pressed a few buttons, even as he did a tight turn and headed for a lake in a nearby park. He'd have to time this perfectly.

"Activating autopilot." Savior said, as he started going over the lake. "Maximum evasive maneuvers. Activate primary ejector seat on my mark. 2. 1. Mark." Savior said.

The cockpit exploded and Savior flew up into the air. He waited two seconds and then used the Shimmer to rip himself out of the ejector seat and its life saving parachute, and as he began to fall the Shimmer flowed out from his back and formed a crude set of wings. These couldn't allow him to fly, but they'd let him glide, just a bit, so he would go down at a angle rather then straight down, as he swooped in towards his targets: the missiles heading for the T-Ship…that were now over the lake.

The Shimmer lashed out, the energy forming into a blade and whipping at high speed, ripping a huge gouge along the side of the first missile and screwing up the computer system that controlled its flight and explosive properties, causing the missile to nosedive into the lake without detonating. Savior adjusted the Shimmer as much as he could within half a second and then lashed out again, this time with so much force he cut straight through the second missile's body as both pieces twisted violently due to the sudden change and fell into the lake. Three and four passed on each side of him, as he lashed out the Shimmer and ripped into their guts as they flew by, careful not to touch the nose, touching the nose was bad, as it would send the signal to detonate and if any of the missiles blew while he was nearby he'd be so much hamburger, as the fifth missile was flying right at him except he was dropping under it as he swung the Shimmer up and looped around the middle to yank himself back up into the air, even as the Shimmer contracted around the thin steel frame of the weapon and sent it crashing into the lake, even as Savior flew back up and missiles six, seven, and eight were passing underneath him almost in a straight line and he nailed all three with one vicious lash, and even as those missiles were flying apart and into the lake Savior was falling, and then landing, right on the ninth missile, and Shimmer strands were shooting from his feet and piercing right through the missile even as he was leaping again, just making it under the tenth missile and looping a line around it to swing to the eleventh, even as the Shimmer strand around the tenth contracted and crushed the booster, even as Savior swung out for the eleventh…

And miscalculated the angle, causing the Shimmer to thunk against the nose.

The missile exploded in mid-air, but it was still out over the lake, so there were no people to get blown up or sliced up by shrapnel…just Savior, as the shockwave threw him through the air like a rag doll, and away from the last missile, as it zipped by and started reaching the end of the lake, where it could fly on and shoot the T-Ship and bring the whole thing down right in the middle of a city street…

A Shimmer strand just made it, flying out and looping around the missile, but Savior cannot crush it, because the missile has passed the lake and is over solid ground, and even if he stops it from flying it could go down and smash stuff if it doesn't just blow up upon impact, so all Savior could do was yell as the missile pulled him along, even as he continued to fall, being dragged by the missile as he scooted the water. He was about to hit the shore, trailing on the end of the missile like water skiing from hell…

Shimmer strands shot out, and as Savior hit the ground they pierced into it and tried to get a grip, but the ground was too soft and the missile's propulsion system was too fast, and Savior continued to be dragged, the lines ripping up the ground around him, even as he sent more and more lines into said ground, trying to slow down…and in front of him, a giant rock…

Savior shoved himself up just before he hit the rock, and the Shimmer strands anchored into the huge stone, 70 of which was hidden underground, as Savior braced his legs and stopped…and feels like his entire muscle structure is trying to be pulled out from his arms, as he let out a snarling scream, trying to drag the missile back, man against machine, fighting the two tons of thrust, and the Shimmer could lift over seven tons but that was a set weight it's not weight that's being shoved down on you like this missile was trying to do by pulling away so much force behind it it was going to pull the Shimmer right out of Savior…

If it hadn't been so delicate, as the line dug into its metal skin and altered its course, just a tad…which was enough to stop the away direction and send it spinning chaotically off into the sky…which allowed Savior to finally yank it behind him and swing it down, throwing the missile into the lake.

A brief pause.

The missile detonated underwater, and if anyone had taken a picture they would have truly gotten one for the ages: Savior on the rock, backdropped by a gigantic plume of water, staring at what he had wrought, at what he had managed to do.

A hero.

But only because he was a fool.

Savior lowered his arms as the waterspout falls back into the lake, taking deep breaths. His limbs burn from his efforts…but he doesn't care.

Because in the sudden silence after Savior's latest James Bond on steroids stunt, he can still hear it in the distance: the helicopter, the one he had tried to fool into crashing so the shield would be disabled and Savior could pull Maddie Fenton to freedom and safety…except Sizzle hadn't blinked.

Savior growled and hopped off the rock, walking past the gathering people, He looked at a man who had pulled out a cell phone.

"Tell the police there are still ten undetonated warheads in that body of water, don't let anyone NEAR them. Tell them the Titans will swing by to clean them up later." Savior said.

"What?" The man replied.

Savior didn't answer, as he started to run, heading back towards the battle.

* * *

"Ok Cyborg. You can't fly, so for the moment, you stay here and protect Danny. I'm going to see if I can finally get that shield to finally give up the ghost, and hence give up OUR ghost." Raven said. 

"You sure about Rae? How do you feel?" Cyborg asked.

"Like someone drove several monster trucks into my head and unleashed a five star demolition derby, but hey, that's the business." Raven said as she floated off the ground. Cyborg didn't have a reply to that, so he accepted it, as in the distance Sizzle turned away from where she had fired the missiles after Savior and started bringing the helicopter higher up from the ground.

"Ok then…now where is that boy…" Sizzle said.

Raven flew in front of the Fenton-copter, letting loose with another blast of black power…closer then she thought: the recoil didn't send her flying, but it smacked her back and make her migraine headache even worse. Sizzle was barely staggered by the blast: by now she was used to all the shocks and tumbles.

"How many missiles do I have left?" Sizzle asked.

"I'm da greatest tapdancer in da world! Humper dumper dido!" The computer replied.

"Are you STILL messed up?"

"Look out Snake! She's under Mantis' mind control!"

"Why do I even bother…" Sizzle said. Well, if she couldn't tell how many missiles she had left, she'd stick with the chain gun for now, as she lined up a shot and opened fire. Raven, even dodging, nearly lost a foot, an experience that would be unpleasant to say the least. She flew up into the air…

And nearly flew right into it, as she suddenly became aware of a weird echoing sound involving the helicopter. Strange, it sounded like the helicopter was behind her…but the Fenton-copter was clearly in front…so what…

And then she turned and stopped with a gasp as she almost flew right into the second helicopter, and then she had to dash to the side before its forward momentum caused it to ram itself into HER. For a moment Raven thought the police had come back in their own chopper…and then she quickly realized it wasn't the police, and that she had better engage Sizzle right away before something really bad happened.

"What the…who's that?" Danny said as he saw the second helicopter fly in, even as Raven zipped down to the Fenton-copter and smashed it with another blast of power, and then picked up a car and threw it at the helicopter again, doing everything to keep Sizzle's attention on her. Cyborg was wondering himself, as he closed his organic eye and zoomed in with his mechanical one.

What he saw made him wince, and for a moment he was glad Noel had tried his stupid plan: it kept him from being here and pitching a fit.

"It's the damn media." Cyborg replied. Danny looked at Cyborg with incredulous eyes.

"WHAT? What kind of a MORON would be so STUPID to fly in and risk his life filming THIS?"

* * *

"Live from Amity Park, this is Chet Ubetcha!" The Elvis haired near midget newsman said into the camera. "As I said, we are LIVE from Amity Park, where a very boring story about floral arrangements as seen by the air has turned into a ruinous disaster we are calling, _CRISIS IN…_uh, what state is this in anyway?" 

"Uh…" the cameraman said.

"Never mind!" Chet replied, as he quickly got out of the shot so the cameraman could shoot footage out the front of his helicopter. "In any case, we are LIVE for this calamity, where a lunatic has somehow acquired a war helicopter and is wrecking havoc across Amity Park! Casualties of the rampage are not yet know, but we do know that the world famous Teen Titans are on the scene, battling this monstrous madman in a fight to a finish! Oh, look at THAT! AMAZING!" Chet yelled as Sizzle fired two missiles at Raven, and Raven, not at full power and unable to do any more fancy tricks, this time just settled for shoving the missiles to the side and into a pair of abandoned storefronts (she knew they were empty, she'd done a quick telepathic scan before she acted). Fires exploded around Raven, and she recoiled, and then she had to fly backwards rapidly as Sizzle came after her, chain gun blazing. Raven, her cloak in tatters, used a combination of flight and shields to protect herself.

And elsewhere…

"OH! OH! OH!" A man with a rather flat face, large jaw, and eyes that didn't convey the brightest expression half said/half almost grunted as he eagerly watched the chaos play out across his TV screen. "This is better then the last ten action movies I saw put together!"

"You see dear? You don't need to watch your silly cartoons for violence! There's plenty on the evening news!" A slightly too overly sweet woman sitting next to the man said to the small figure sitting in front of them on the floor. We, esteemed readers, should know this small, pink hated figure very well.

"Uh…" Timmy Turner replied, not quite sure what to make of what he was seeing. One of the goldfish in the bowl he clutched in front of him shared his questioning expression: the other shared the "This is AWESOME" look Timmy's dad shared, at Raven flew along a building as Sizzle followed her with the chain gun, windows shattering in a long twisting line, even as Raven hit Sizzle with more telekinetic blasts.

"Actually, I think I need to use the washroom." He said, and stood up and dashed out of the room, running into the hallway behind the living room. He stopped, and then the goldfish in his bowl disappeared and reappeared in their true forms in front and above Timmy.

"HEYYYYY! It was just getting good!" Cosmo complained, and then with a wave of his wand he turned the wall invisible so he could keep watching: the Turners were too engrossed with the footage themselves to notice. "Man, whoever thought the evening news could be so awesome! But…wait…it's not even 3'o clock! How can it be evening? What's going on? I fixed all my clocks! It was fall forward spring back right? OH DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME, WHY DO YOU MOCK ME!" Cosmo lamented, in only the way he could.

"Wanda, what's going on?" Timmy asked.

"Well hun, I don't have to be a fairy to tell you some nutcase is shooting everything that moves, and everything that doesn't, in some city called Amity Park!"

"Yea but…uh…it's not because of anything I did right?"

"Uhhhhhh…" Wanda replied, and then a big thick book with "Da Rules" appeared on it and Wanda opened it to the back, where fairies kept personal logs. "Let's see…didn't want to eat his carrots so he wished them away and made the whole world blind…wanted to play a really awesome new sport and nearly destroyed the Earth when the moon almost crashed into it…wish written on a smeared piece of paper foolishly granted by Cosmo which resulted in the return of Supertoilet…"

"AH! AH! SO-MUCH-CLOGGING!" Cosmo agonized when he heard the name of Supertoilet.

"But…nothing I can see here that could have caused this." Wanda said, closing the book.

"Whew! That's a relief!" Timmy said, wiping his forehead. Cosmo had, by now, immediately forgotten everything he had just been distressing about and resumed watching the news, where Raven was ducking under another blast of chain gun fire and got a rude surprise as part of the building she was in front of collapsed under the assault and fell on her, smashing her down into the ground and burying her.

"Ohhhhhh, that looked like it hurt!" Cosmo/Mr. Turner said at the exact same time, and then looked around in confusion at the echo.

"Oh no! The female Titan is down! And it appears that the lunatic is arming a missile to finish her off!" Chet was saying on the screen, as Sizzle flew backwards a bit. Dark energy appeared on the rumble, shoving it off, but it appeared to be too late for Raven as the missile was off and flying at her…

And OVER her. Raven pushed the rest of the rubble off of her body and looked up in confusion…and then her eyes widened as she turned around.

"Man, that lunatic must have terrible aim! The missile missed the female Titan entirely! I mean, it went completely the wrong way! It's…heading straight for us! It's-AHHHHHH!" Chet screamed as the missile suddenly filled the camera screen.

And then the TV went to static.

"Oh no! Chet!" Timmy said.

"Oh don't worry! He'll be fine! After all, he's just on TV!" Cosmo said.

* * *

Cosmo may have thought Chet Ubetcha was unharmed due to his very presence on television, but Sizzle didn't share his clueless optimism as she watched the news helicopter explode in a tremendous fireball. She chuckled. 

"Three's a crowd asshole." She said, and turned back to Raven.

"Ah noooooooooo…" Danny groaned: he hadn't known Chet at all but he had known there were people in that helicopter and he had just seen them die.

Cyborg stepped up next to him, ready to comfort the kid, who hadn't seen even a fraction of the things Cyborg had and hence didn't have the proper distance when things went wrong…and then he blinked. And then he pointed.

"Look! I can see their parachutes! They're ok!" Cyborg said. Danny looked at Cyborg with a resigned expression.

"You don't have to lie to me. I might be a rookie according to your boss, but I know that they're dead, no need to try and conceal it."

"No, REALLY! They brought parachutes! Look!" Cyborg said, and Danny, rather annoyed that Cyborg would condescend to him so much, looked back…and saw Chet Ubetcha dropping past the roof edge on, indeed, a parachute.

"I'm paranoid!" He said as he went by to no one in particular, the cameraman and pilot following him.

"Even with that…kid, Raven can't fight Sizzle on her own. I have to help her. Here." Cyborg said, as sections of his back slid open, and he reached behind himself, removed something, and then handed Danny two objects that looked like sleek irons.

"What are these?"

"Special clamps for climbing buildings. There's no stairway off this roof, I checked. These things can exert powerful suction. Just turn them on and dial for more and more powerful holding power. You should be able to climb down the side without any problems, just adjust the pressure accordingly to slide right down."

"Uh, thanks." Danny said, as he took the devices. His eyes caught a switch that Cyborg hadn't mentioned: switching the devices up activated the suction, and the middle was apparently the turn off switch…but the switch went down as well. "What's that do?"

"Oh, don't touch that. That switches the holders from air suction to magnetism. You can't use that, this is a stone building…and besides, if you're not careful with the power settings on the magnetic side you'll yank the fillings right out of your teeth." Cyborg said, as his armed converted into a grapple cannon. "Get out of here Danny. You've done everything you could. We have to handle it from here." Cyborg said, and before Danny could reply the robot was running, jumping, and firing off a grappling hook that he swung to another roof to, as he started running alongside it to join Raven.

"What…" Danny said, and then suddenly felt saddened: his mother was still in danger and he had been written off completely, first by Savior and then by Cyborg, It was rather depressing. They hadn't even asked to take the Thermos or the Mini Ghost Catcher.

That, and the fact that Danny was still afraid for his mother, was what kept him from leaving the roof.

Cyborg landed on another roof, and he ran to its side as Sizzle flew down the street that faced said side, after Raven, who was pretty much reduced to being on the defensive. The grapple cannon converted to the sonic cannon, as Cyborg's other arm converted to his gatling gun.

"Cy's here bitch. You better recognize!" Cyborg said, and opened fire, shooting at the rotors and engines, trying to do some, or any, damage.

"Argh. Am I being bitten by another mosquito?" Sizzle asked.

"My shiny teeth that sparkle! My shiny teeth so clean! My shiny teeth that twinkle! It's almost obscene!" The computer sang. Sizzle had by now quit relying on the completely screwed up AI for help and was answering her own questions, as she twisted the stick and swung the helicopter up, flying up to Cyborg and firing another burst of chain gun fire. But all it hit was the roof, as Cyborg had run and jumped off it just before she had begun firing. He hit the concrete, his immense weight cracking it, and then he leaned up and fired a fully charged sonic cannon blast into the Fenton-copter's underside, rocking the machine up and down as he took the time to run across the street. It wasn't long until he was joined by Raven.

"You want to do our version of the Sonic Boom?" Raven asked.

"I got the sonic if you got the boom." Cyborg said, as his cannon glowed. Raven nodded and then picked up another car.

Sizzle had righted herself and turned back towards the two.

Raven hurled the car at the cockpit, even as Cyborg shoved his two arms up and fired them at the same time, the concentrated burst of ultrasonics giving the thrown vehicle even more force as the bullets tore into the gas tank, trying for a spark, hoping for a spark…

A spark.

Sizzle screamed as the car exploded five feet from hitting her, the flaming wreckage slamming into the machine and sending it flying back as Sizzle's cockpit erupted in sparks again.

"That shield HAS to be finished. I'm going to make SURE." Raven said, as she flew forward, concentrating with everything she had left. "Azarath…Metrion…ZINTHOS!"

And Raven lashed out with every drop of force she could muster, and the sky exploded in brilliant light as once again, the irresistible force clashed with the unmovable object. Cyborg threw up his hands and recoiled…and in the process, happened to look up, which allowed him to see Raven shooting over his head like a bullet, flying across the whole street and smashing through a window at the end.

Unmovable object 2, irresistible force zip.

"Geezus, who gave them the plans for that shield, the Weaponeers from Qward?" Cyborg cursed, as roller blades sprouted from his feet and rockets from his legs. As Sizzle recovered from the blow and started after Cyborg, the rockets reversed themselves and Cyborg went shooting down the street backwards, firing his sonic cannon and trying to stay away from the chain gun as Sizzle chased him with it.

Danny watched as Cyborg shot down the street that was to Danny's left…and gaped as he saw Cyborg turn onto the street that Danny's building was parallel to, as Sizzle launched two missiles at Cyborg, exhausting two of her remaining four Hellfires. Cyborg increased the power of his rockets, but the boosters on the missiles were a lot more powerful then his, and he found the missiles catching up.

"Damn it!" Cyborg cursed, as he fired at the missile. Two shots from his sonic cannon managed to connect with the first one and screw it up, and it flew past Cyborg, going over his head, as Cyborg turned his attention to the second, but it was too close, there was no way…

"DAMMMNNNNNNNNN!" Cyborg bellowed as, instead of firing at the missile, he stole a trick from Savior and fired at the ground, thrusting several large shards of concrete up…but still too close, as the missile flew into them and Cyborg was caught into the explosion, losing his grip on the road and tumbling backwards.

And then the missile Cyborg had managed to divert slammed into the building behind him, and as the stone face began to crumble, Cyborg slammed into the base of it…just in time for tons of rock and other debris to come crashing down on him and burying him completely.

"Aw no…." Danny said as he saw this, as Sizzle turned around, her radar informing her that her primary target was close. Huh, she'd forgotten all about the boy for a moment! Well, time flew, and he was close now. She'd find him.

As soon as she dealt with Raven, who was now at the other end of the street, though from her floating pose it was clear she'd rather be anywhere but. Sizzle smirked to herself: girls had no drive to keep going these days.

"Quote the raven, no more." Sizzle said, as she locked her last four Sidewinders and let loose.

Raven saw them coming, but she refused to dodge, because she had to stop that helicopter and she could only thing of one way…

"Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!" Raven chanted as she raised her hands, and as the missiles drew close they were encased in black power, as Raven tried to find the power to turn them around and fire them back at Sizzle…

And then Sizzle was there, having followed her missiles, and she laughed merrily as she fired her chain gun at Raven. Raven had no choice but to fly up to avoid it…and that disrupted her concentration, the missiles were free, and they were right on top of her as her eyes widened in fear…

"NO!" Danny yelled as he saw a flash of black power be consumed by a massive mid-air explosion. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing left.

"Poetry in motion! Oh yeah!" Sizzle said, and even though Danny couldn't hear her he could sure as hell see her: her helicopter was right at the base of the building he was on top of. Laughing, Sizzle glanced over to her radar to check her main target: once again, close. And this time, she was SURE, there would be nothing standing between him and her.

Danny watched her start to rise, and he knew what she was doing. After all that had happened, was this it? Was he doomed to be killed by his own mother?

The helicopter was still rising.

And as Danny watched it go up, he came to a decision, an absolutely insane decision, but he would follow it out anyway. He had to. He was the only one left.

He had to save his mom. No matter the cost.

"Still messed up computer?" Sizzle asked.

"Thing Ring, Do Your Thing!"

"Oh well, too bad you'll miss this!" Sizzle said. She knew she was almost out of ammo, (hell she was amazed the Fentons had been able to cram all their ghost hunting junk as well as all the backup missiles onto this thing without harming its performance: they must have been mechanical genius) but she had enough bullets and two missiles left, and that was plenty to completely erase the boy. She'd have to find a new host and take a more hands on approach for the rest of her quest…but in a way, she was getting pretty bored of flying the helicopter, as she flew up next to the roof.

And Danny Fenton finished his run and launched himself off the edge, and Sizzle's eyes widened in utter shock as the normal boy leapt through the air at her…and fell, as he was no long jumper.

As Danny raised his right hand, tightly clutching one of Cyborg's devices, and flipped the switch to magnetism.

The yank nearly pulled the device out of his hand: Danny had turned the power switch to near-full, but Danny managed to hold on, as with a yell the device crashed into the underside of the helicopter, the impact once again nearly causing Danny to let go. He grimaced, but he refused to release his grip.

A slight impact rang through Sizzle's feet, and she arched an eyebrow: what was that? And where did the boy go? Sizzle tried to turn the helicopter to a proper position so she could look down and see the boy's body.

Danny reached up with his left hand and flipped the switch with his right wrist: the second device clamped onto the metal underbelly of the helicopter, leaving Danny hanging from the underside. Sweat ran into his eyes, but he didn't falter, as he adjusted the strength of the magnetic clamp with his thumb and yanked the right device off, clamping it down a few feet away from the first as he readjusted the strength of the pull, and then he did the same with the left one, and again, and again, as Danny pulled himself across the bottom of the aircraft and began working his way up the side.

Sizzle didn't notice: she was too busy flying the helicopter higher and higher, trying to find Danny.

"Where are you?" Sizzle snarled, and by now Danny was so close he could hear her, his mother's wise tone twisted by a hideous soul, and that gave Danny the final burst he needed, as he made one final "step". He was right below the door…just…one…

A loud thunking noise startled Sizzle, and she looked to her right incredulously to see an arm having just stuck something on the right side of the helicopter right next to her open doorway.

As Danny reached to his belt and pulled out the Fenton Mini Ghost Catcher, and then with a scream he yanked himself up to the cockpit.

"GET OUT OF MY MOTHER!"

And Danny jammed the cattle prod like device into his mother's body. She screamed, and that scream hurt more then a physical blow, but Danny didn't stop as he pulled the stick back and zapped Sizzle again. Sizzle thrust out her hand, trying to generate fire, but her connection to her host was suddenly all screwed up and she couldn't call it: all she did was shove the boy. That nearly worked in and of itself, as the shove caused Danny to almost lose his grip on his brace, but he didn't, and with a snarling yell he pulled himself back and zapped Sizzle again.

"OUT! OUT!" He bellowed, and as he thrust the stick again and again into his mother's chest and torso he could see a red haze start to appear around her, a haze that grew more defined, and eventually it was no longer his mother's mouth doing the screams but the haze itself, as Danny zapped and zapped and zapped…

And in one last desperate move, Sizzle managed to regain control of Maddie Fenton's leg and lash out with a vicious kick. This time, Danny lost his grip, and he fell…

A few feet, before he grabbed onto the second, lower placed clamp. Unfortunately, this motion caused him to drop the Mini Ghost Catcher, and he watched it fall to the street far below (the Fenton-copter, with no one to change its direction, had kept going up).

But it didn't matter: Sizzle knew she was done. Her connection and control were shattered, and if she tried to repossess Maddie Fenton in this state there could be serious consequences: her personality could butt heads with Maddie's and shatter, causing Sizzle to pretty much cease to exist as she was, to name one. No, the boy had broken her possession: she had to leave.

But she had enough control left to do one more thing.

"Well whoop de fucking doo kid!" Sizzle said as she sluggishly lifted Maddie Fenton's arm and began opening a small pocket the woman kept on her upper leg. "You certainly made a risky move pay off!"

Danny had, by now, pulled himself back up to the cockpit's torn off door…as Sizzle pulled out what she wanted: a pair of handcuffs. But all Danny got to do was see them, as the fact that there was no pilot and the autopilot had not been turned on caused the helicopter to violently lurch and Danny was thrown to the side, holding onto his sole brace for dear life.

"But there's always a cost to risky moves…" Sizzle said as Danny tried to get back in…just in time to see Sizzle snap the handcuff around her own, or actually Maddie's wrist. "And often, it entails that you sacrifice a piece!"

And before Danny could do anything, Sizzle grabbed the other end of the handcuffs and snapped them around the Fenton-copter controls.

"NO!" Danny yelled, grabbing at the metal, trying to keep it from sealing, but it was too late: the cuff had locked. Danny immediately went for the pocket that he had seen Sizzle pull the cuffs from, looking for a key…and then he was aware of great heat above him, and he looked up

Sizzle was out of his mom, floating inside the cockpit, albeit in a smaller form so she could fit, dangling the key in front of Danny.

Which melted before his eyes.

"If your mom wakes up before impact, tell her it's your fault she's dead."

And Sizzle thrust her hands into the controls and blew up the entire dashboard of the helicopter, reducing it to slag and nearly blowing Danny out of the helicopter again. It also did what none of the Titans or Danny had been able to do: disabled the shield, and as it vanished Sizzle flew up, melting through the cockpit window and flying into the sky with a laughing cry of triumph, as several parts of the Fenton-copter exploded and the machine went into a terminal spin, straight down.

"Mom! NO, MOM!" Danny yelled as he pulled himself back into the cockpit. He grabbed at the handcuffs and yanked as hard as he could, but nothing happened. The spinning of the helicopter as it went down made it nearly impossible to keep his balance, but Danny refused to let go, as he yanked, tugged, pulled, and screamed at his body that he didn't care if he could never go ghost again, he just needed two seconds of intangibility to pull his mother free.

Unfortunately for Danny, even though it seemed infinitely longer…only fourteen minutes had passed since Sizzle had rearmed the original weapons of the now crashing Fenton-copter.

That gave Danny four minutes to go.

Time to impact…

TWENTY SECONDS.

"MOMMMMMMMMMMM!" Danny screamed, as he pulled with all his might, hoping that he might get one of those bursts of super strength that people sometimes get when their kids are trapped under cars…but life wasn't cooperating.

Apparently, it was telling him the same thing Sizzle had, as the Fenton-copter spun down into the streets of Amity Park.

Your mother is dead Danny Fenton.

And so are you.


	12. In Flagrante Ira: Sword of Damocles

Chapter 12: Sword of Damocles

_"In Flagrante Ira."_

("In Blazing Rage.")

"You know what makes leadership? The ability to get men to do what they don't want to do, and like it."

-Harry Truman

Savior wasn't going to make it, and he knew it.

For all the determination in his heart and soul, it just wasn't enough to put the wings on his feet that he needed to reach the helicopter in time. That wasn't stopping him though, as he ran and used the Shimmer as much as he could to cut into the distance between him and the falling aircraft. As Savior had said many times, he was a metahuman, and if you insisted on calling him it, a superhero. He was not a god: his powers didn't let him cross vast distances in the blink of an eye or be in two places at once.

And it appeared that that fact would result in Maddie Fenton's death (and Danny's, though Savior didn't know he was on the helicopter). And there was nothing he could do.

That didn't slow his pace any.

He ran and leapt as fast as he could, even though he knew there was no way he'd make it.

And afterward, if the boy or his family and friends wanted to blame him for the death…let them. He'd shoulder it. He'd done it before.

It was part of the life.

To take the blame for the death.

* * *

Danny couldn't care whether Noel Collins was willing to let himself be the magnet of the hate and blame that would result when the helicopter crashed, because he was determined to ensure there was no reason to target him with such vitriol because he was GOING to get his mother free. He had forgotten everything outside of that determination…including the point that even if he could somehow break the handcuffs, he had no way to get his mother out of the helicopter safely: there was nothing to jump onto or for except the ground, and even if the fall didn't kill them, it would certainly injure them enough to prevent them from moving before the helicopter landed on their heads, or landed nearby and killed them via the explosion or shrapnel. 

Such a dearth of hope didn't even register with Danny Fenton, neither did the blood on his hands or the utter exhaustion in his body, as he yanked and tore at the handcuffs, as the Fenton-copter continued to spiral to the ground in its death throes…

"Da...nny…"

Danny looked up.

His mother was look at him, faintly, through a slightly milky eye. Sizzle's unneeded ability to generate fire while using the weapons of the F.U.M.B.L.E had allowed her to devote all her strength to keeping Maddie Fenton's consciousness tightly locked up, which had been very handy: while some of her other possessees had fought her control, none had done so with the ferocity of Maddie Fenton, and when Danny had turned back into a human and Maddie Fenton finally realized she was fighting her son (the hosts could see everything Sizzle did, they just couldn't change it, and when the link between them was severed, it screwed up the brain's synapses and made them forget everything they had seen), the fighting had increased tenfold. It was testament to how great Sizzle's psychotic rage towards Danny Phantom was that she had managed to hold down the righteous rage of a mother…but as it had been said, what had happened to her was inhuman to the extreme, and against such a force, most human qualities simply cannot compete, not even the desire of a mother to protect her child.

A tragedy.

"Mom! Hold on! I'll get you out!" Danny yelled, as he continued to claw at the handcuffs, even as the helicopter corkscrewed down…

"Danny…I'm…oh…Danny…" Maddie Fenton whispered.

"Mom…" Danny replied.

And then the tail rotor hit the side of a skyscraper, and the helicopter, briefly caught up, lurched downward at an extreme angle, throwing Danny into his mother. He barely seemed to notice as he tried to get back up and pull himself over to the handcuffs…

And then he saw it, at the downward angle out the window…how close the ground was…and he knew then he wasn't going to get his mom free.

So, he tried, once more, to go ghost.

And he found that option was gone to him as well.

And he realized that for all his fighting…he'd failed. Now he would die…and so would his mom, and that was what hurt the most, as he turned and looked back at her, and yet…there was a look in her eye, a look of acceptance, like she had accepted her fate…and…

Pride.

"My boy." Maddie said, as she brought up her hand and brushed the side of Danny's head, in the way only a mother can.

Danny looked at her, as the helicopter spun the final time.

And then he hugged her.

"We hope you enjoyed the ride!" The computer chirped.

And then it all seemed to go in slow motion, the helicopter slamming into the ground, tail end first, a terrible rumbling going through the machine even as the weight and downward momentum began to crush the machine against the ground like a tin can, even as new explosions erupted from the aircraft, what was left of the cockpit shattering around Danny and his mother, as the fuel tank ruptured and gas began to pour out, almost immediately meeting sparks from all the tearing and rending metal…as Starfire flew down, grabbed the handcuff, snapped the chain like it was made of sugar glass, and then grabbed Danny and his mom, pulling the woman from her harness like it wasn't there, and flew upward as fast as she could even the Fenton-copter exploded beneath them, a gigantic pillar of flaming death clawing up after the three as if in a rage that these two had been lost to it, even as Starfire spun and flew away from the exploding machine, as it emitted a noise in its death throes like the final cry of a beast long lost in the primordial ooze in the past.

It was so shocking it felt like a punch in the stomach to Danny, and before he realized what had happened Starfire had finished her upward flight and was now floating there, taking a few deep breaths.

"Looks like…my timing…was most auspicious." Starfire said, and smiled slightly at Danny.

"…Suh, suh-Starfire?"

"Yes Danny, it is I. Sorry I could not recover and return to aid you until now, but I think you can forgive…"

And then one final explosion shook the ground, as the last remaining ammo and missiles went up, and then suddenly it was there, as the main rotor of the helicopter flew off and up into the air like the devil had thrown it himself, a spiraling clutch of blades wreathed in flame and as black as pitch that spun up towards the three floating figures as the Fenton-copter made one last gasp in its apparent desire to drag its occupants to hell.

"Oh dear." Starfire said.

And Danny found his mother and himself in freefall again as Starfire let them go, even as the whirling, fragmenting death curved slightly, and even as the Fentons fell past it the blade whirled up, as Starfire twisted and contorted her body into a shape she should not have been able to make, the twirling slicing thing eager to slice her body into sashimi…

Several strands of Starfire's hair and a bit of her skirt was snipped off as the rotor missed by the length of a pinkie finger, and as Starfire spun away it flew past and tore into the side of the building nearby, glass shattering and furniture exploding into fragments even as the rotor broke apart and fired off more shards of deadly broken metal, turning the entire floor of the office into a war zone.

Good thing the employees that usually worked here had cleared out a while ago. Not every building was stupid enough to keep working when someone was flying a helicopter around and shooting everything that moved.

Danny didn't even get time to scream again when Starfire zipped down and grabbed him and his mother once more, his air going out of him in a whoosh.

"Let's get away before any more of that machine tries to come over and say hello, shall we?" Starfire said, and flew down the street and around the corner. Setting down near the end of that street, Starfire let Danny go and laid Maddie Fenton down: by now the woman had finally passed out.

"Is she ok?" Danny asked. Starfire laid her index and middle finger on Maddie Fenton's neck.

"Strong pulse. No apparent injuries. Breathing seems ok." Starfire said, as she briefly slipped into the mindset of a Tamaranian warrior, who had to see if comrades could still fight, combined with what Robin had taught her about Earth medicine. "I think she'll be ok Danny…" Starfire said as she started standing up.

And then, in an odd reversal, Danny was hugging her as hard as he could.

"Thank you." He gasped. "Thank you."

Starfire looked a bit confused, probably because of that aforementioned role reversal, and then she smiled slightly and returned the hug, lightly. She had to be careful, her alien strength could easily crush Danny.

"It was my pleasure." She said. "We…"

And then she let out a slight gasp.

Even as Danny was suddenly aware of a burning sensation around his hands.

"Star?" He half asked half whimpered, as he pulled away…

Sizzle backhanded him so hard Danny flew across the street and crashed into a pile of trash cans and rotting garbage. Said rotting garbage kept him from breaking his back, and only the fact that Sizzle had a bad angle had saved Danny from having every rib in his front shattered from her blow.

"Not anymore." Sizzle said in Starfire's body: Danny was too busy being stunned and gasping for air to reply, even as the new horror came fully to him. Sizzle was back, she'd possessed Starfire, he was out of power…what did he have…except…

And then, with one final dagger in his being, Danny realized the special Fenton Thermos, the one he had strapped to his back before he'd pulled his insane stunt to save his mother, was gone from its fastening.

Instead, it was in Sizzle's hand.

Danny's eyes widened in shock and horror, as he managed to pull himself up a bit from where he lay in all the garbage, and was rewarded with a wave of agony through his form as his front and back complained at what had just happened, sapping all his strength and basically freezing him on the spot.

"Well well…a special toy from your Daddy to lock me up?" Sizzle said, as she waggled the Thermos back and forth slightly.

And then it was gone, as Sizzle crushed the device in one quick squeeze.

"Awwwwwwww." Sizzle said in false disappointment as she opened her hand and let the destroyed device fall to the ground in pieces.

"No…." Danny said, as he tried to get up…and only made it about a fourth of the way before he ran out of strength and fell to his knees, his palms smacking into the ground as Sizzle laughed quietly to herself.

"You got more lives then a cat, kid." Sizzle said. "And that's REALLY pissing me off."

Danny looked up as Sizzle raised a hand, Starfire's green power, the Starbolts, power gained from the alien's ability to absorb solar energy and manifest it as destructive blasts, green destructive blasts, a green that was turning crimson. "So…I don't think I'll just kill you…no…"

And Starfire raised her foot…and slowly placed it on Maddie Fenton's forehead.

"Mommy dearest goes too."

"No!" Danny said, trying to get up again. Spirit all too willing, flesh far too weak, as Danny fell again.

"And because of you…she goes first. You should have just rolled over and died kid. Now you have to pay the price of fucking with me." Sizzle said, and raised her foot.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Savior swooped down and lashed out with a Shimmer assisted kick so fierce it knocked Sizzle right off her feet and sent her flying the several dozen feet like a bullet before she hit the parking lot at the end of the T-Shaped street, crashing through the small toll taker booth and continuing on until she hit the brick wall at the end of the parking lot and went right through that as well, her body buried in a shower of baked mud rocks.

"No curb stomp for you. This ain't _American History X_." Savior said, and then he leaned down to check on Maddie Fenton. Finding the same thing Starfire had before her unfortunate possession by Sizzle, Savior scooped her up via the Shimmer and put her in a nearby alleyway, out of the way…hopefully. He was about to move on when a noise caught his ear, and he turned to look at Danny.

"Still alive kid? You badly hurt?" He asked.

"My mom…"

"She'll be fine. Hopefully. Where's the Thermos?"

"Sizzle…ah no...she…" Danny gasped, and pointed. Savior looked down at the shattered ruin that had once been their lone hope to contain Sizzle. His jaw clenched, not just at its destruction, but at the fact that had been the only one they had.

"Fuck. Well, you got any ommph left kid?"

Danny just fell down to his knees again, gasping for air.

"I'll take that as a no." Savior said, and started walking away, up the street, towards where he had kicked Sizzle.

"Hey…!" Danny half-yelled.

"What?" Savior asked.

"…How could you?"

"How could I what?"

"Kick your own teammate!"

Savior didn't answer: he just turned his head back towards the mound of bricks at the end of the road…a mound he felt had about another ten seconds, at most, to exist.

"That wasn't my teammate." Savior finally said.

"But…"

"You want to stay in this business rookie, you better learn not to just conceive of such choices, but prepare for them as well. Now shut up and lay low, I don't want you getting in the way." Savior said as he resumed walking down the street. Danny just stared, and then he tried to stand up again, lost his balance and fell back among the garbage.

Savior was ordering his mind, the front part preparing for combat and the back trying to conceive of a new plan when his communicator went off. Savior pulled it out and flipped it open in one crisp motion.

"Savior."

"Ah…fuck! Savior! This is Cyborg! I'm buried under a ton of rubble at the corner of Masser and Bloor! My power cells have been severely depleted, can you come and help dig me up?"

"I'd like to but no Cyborg. The Fenton-copter has been destroyed and Maddie Fenton has been retrieved, but Sizzle has changed hosts. She's got Star."

"What? OH NO!"

"That was pretty much my reaction. The rookie's completely burned out, and not seeing Raven I'm assuming she's down as well. And believe me, I'd rather be hunting for her, but if Sizzle's power can pull the shit she did in normal humans, I don't want to see what will happen if she gets to play with the warrior princess of the Tamaranians. Can you dig yourself out?"

"Uh, yeah, but it'll take me at least twenty minutes…!"

"Keep calling for Raven, that timetable is not optimum for me." Savior said as he walked past the shattered tollbooth and into the parking lot. "In the meantime, I'm going to try and keep Sizzle occupied."

"What? You're going to fight Starfire?"

"Screw that, I'm going to beat her if I have to."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, I know. But Kory, despite what a lot of people might think, is a soldier Cy. She'll understand. Even so, I don't like to do these things."

"Then why are you DOING IT?"

And the mound of bricks exploded, and smoke plumed out and enveloped Savior as he saw the shadowy silhouette rise up from the wreckage. His eyes narrowed.

"I don't like to lose either." Savior said, and turned the communicator off.

The smoke and dust cleared as Sizzle set down, looking more confused then angry. She brought her hand to her face and found once again the fingers were coming away wet with blood, blood she almost didn't recognize for a bit as it had a strange purplish tint to the red of it, and then there was a slight cough and Sizzle looked up at Savior.

"Funny, I didn't think I had enough impact to cause Starfire to bleed. I'm either better then I thought, or your taint actually weakened Starfire. I think it's the latter myself." Savior said, his tone a perfect blend between dismissal, smarminess, and baiting.

Sizzle's eyes glowed bright green, a green that immediately shot through with red, as Sizzle screamed and raised her hands, green and crimson energy swirling into existence…a lot more then Starfire could normally muster. Savior's eyebrows arched.

"Well, that's not right."

Sizzle shrieked and fired off a Starbolt/Sizzlebolt/Stizzlebolt/Sizzirebolt/Whatever I'll Call It A Starbolt, shooting an energy blast the size of one of the cars in the lot. It would have vaporized Noel Collins right out of existence if he hadn't jumped up via the Shimmer, the massive blast flying below him, ripping the concrete to shreds as it flew down the street, turning the wreckage of the tollbooth into nothing, and then zipping past where Danny still lay and continuing until it hit a brownstone at the end of the street, a gigantic detonation erupting as the stone building buckled and then collapsed under the impact of the blast. Glancing over his shoulder, Savior hoped there weren't any people in the building…

And then more important matters were occupying his attention, specifically Sizzle flying up at him, screaming as she prepared to do with her fists what she had failed to do with her blast.

Of course, for that to work, she had to actually touch Savior, and he wasn't going to let THAT happen, and since he was in mid-air and it was immensely difficult for people in mid air without flying powers to effect any kind of successful dodging maneuvers, he improvised, as he thrust out his arms and fired off a myriad of Shimmer strands that coiled out and wrapped around Starfire's body. Sizzle didn't even seem to notice, as she continued flying up and swinging…and Savior used the alien's body as his brace to yank himself out of the way, and just as Sizzle began to realize what was going on Savior pulled himself back, Sizzle's body instinctively resisting the powerful tug and keeping it from moving, which in the end was a mistake as it kept her in one place and allowed Savior to slam his foot across her face. Stunned, Sizzle could only look up as Savior spun around and yanked himself back down, once again planting his foot in her face at a downward angle. This new blast of pain finally woke Sizzle up, and she screamed and tried to fire…and found Savior pulling himself out of the way of the blast. Snarling, she finally reached down and grabbed for the Shimmer ropes, trying to yank them off, but the energy turned fluid and viscous, preventing Sizzle from getting a grip on it, and while she pulled at it Savior took the time to swing around again and flew in, belting the woman across the face that wasn't hers…

And finding Sizzle's hand grabbing his jacket.

"Oops."

Sizzle threw Savior to the ground (had she had a clearer head she might have just made the teen spontaneously combust when she had grabbed him, but wise battle strategy rarely keeps up in the grip of great anger, and nothing helps great anger bloom up then getting struck in the face a few times). Savior decided it would be best not to drag the alien down with him and possibly let her get another, close range shot and released his ropes as he twirled and immediately sheathed his back in Shimmer energy. This shielding maneuver was what let Savior take blows like going through walls, impacts that would reduce a normal human's body to jelly, and keep going. Savior used it so much it was as instinctive as breathing to him, and it let him survive impacts like the one he made when he crashed into the hood of a car…though it didn't make it any less painful at times, as the huge collision sent a shockwave through Savior's form and stunned him. He blinked and tried to get his head back together…

Sizzle came shrieking down from the sky, a mythical harpy come to life and wanting to feast on Savior's flesh, or more accurately burn it to a cinder. Savior managed to move, or more accurately the Shimmer managed to throw him out of the way before Sizzle crashed down, burying her glowing hand shoulder deep into the car before her Starbolt detonated, turning the damaged vehicle into a fireball and exploding several surrounding cars from the heat. Savior flew through the air as the Shimmer sprang up to protect him from shrapnel, and while it kept any razor sharp bits of metals from going through bad places like a skull or a lung, it couldn't protect the teen entirely. Then again, it wasn't like Savior hadn't had the joyful experience of having one's skin riddled with tiny bits of metal before. In this business, you were around a lot of explosions.

Thick black smoke spewed out from the destruction, and Savior was just getting to his feet as it enveloped him. He coughed violently and then formed a mask over his mouth even as more Shimmer strands formed crude fans to blow the smoke away, as Savior's head darted back and forth and up, trying to find Sizzle. His only advantage was superior tactics, and he couldn't use those if…

He never saw the hand, and it's a good thing the blow was purposely half hearted, otherwise the backhand probably would have knocked Savior's head right off his shoulders. Even so, Noel got an introduction to Danny's previous experience as he flew backwards and then bounced and rolled along the ground a bit, losing some more skin as he came to a stop. He gasped, and then collected himself, breathing in hard through his nostrils as he got up.

"You know…I've been going about this all wrong…" Sizzle said as she walked forward. "Why blast you into nothing? Why kind of a fate is that for the man who seems to take such pride in striking women, especially myself, in the face?" Sizzle said, pointing to her nose.

"You're no woman." Savior replied.

"Oh, and you're not half the tactician you believe yourself to be, asshole…or should I say, Noel?"

Savior's eyes briefly went as wide as saucers, and then he realized how Sizzle knew that name…though about the same time as his realization, Sizzle was speaking the reason.

"Oh, don't look so surprised. Everything old Koriand'r here knows…I did pronounce her name right, right? Well, I know it too. Including every memory she has of fighting beside you. So why don't…"

A lashing Shimmer whip struck Sizzle across the face.

"Unless you plan to talk me to death, better step up or get stepped on bitch." Savior said.

Sizzle slowly turned her head back, an angry dark line across the orange skin of the alien she was in.

And then she did the last thing Savior expected: she smiled.

"You ask me to step up, yet you have clearly forgotten just who you are asking to start stepping."

And then fire exploded under Savior, throwing him straight up into the air, and before Savior could react Sizzle flew up and grabbed him by the jacket.

"Just because I have all the resources of this body at my command doesn't mean I've forgotten what brought me to the dance. And since you so clearly want to keep me occupied and away from innocent people and that fucking boy, I'm going to make sure you regret it. No blink and done incineration for you asshole. I'm going to beat you to death with my bare hands."

And then Sizzle slammed her head forward, smashing her forehead against Savior's nose, and even as Savior's head snapped back Sizzle laughed and hurled him to the ground. Shimmer strands sprang out immediately, grabbing the concrete and throwing Savior away…and then a Starbolt flew down and detonated, blowing up another dozen cars and sending Savior flying again. He crashed into the left building of the three that surrounded the parking lot and caved part of the wall in, groaning as pain shot through his body and bricks fell down around him. He shook his head and stepped forward…

Only to find Sizzle there, floating in front of him…holding a car above her head. Savior's eyes widened.

"You can't beat me fucker! In this body I'm as strong as fifty Valkeries!" Sizzle laughed, and then she hurled the car, spinning end over end, at Savior.

Savior stood there for another second, as the car flew at him, drawing in close, the two and a half ton vehicle about to crush him against the wall…and then Shimmer strands sprang behind him, and Savior leapt/dove/was thrown forward and upward, thrusting his body out and drawing his arms and legs together as tightly as possible, even as a Shimmer shield formed over his hands.

And much to Sizzle's astonishment, Savior crashed through the front passenger's side window and flew through the car before crashing out through the driver's side window, having gone perfectly through the car before it could continue turning, flying through the air towards Sizzle as the car crashed into the place where Savior had been, cocking back his fist as the Shimmer wrapped around it and increased its density as much as possible before Savior slashed his arm out, slamming his fist into Sizzle's chest and sending her shooting down to the ground like a comet, her body smashing through a car windshield, and even in mid air Savior was still going, thrusting out his arms as the Shimmer flowed off the limb he had previously enhanced and sprang from the other one, reaching out and grabbing the car, Sizzle still laying stunned on top of it, part of her body stuck in the broken windshield, and as Savior landed he lifted the car above his head and swung it back down, top first, onto another car, crushing Sizzle between them, as the Shimmer sprang off the car and grabbed two more on either side of the two compacted vehicles, which were picked up and smashed on each side of the wreckage like a pair of cymbals, leaving Sizzle totally entombed in a mass of crushed metal.

"Then I'll kick your ass fifty times." Savior replied.

Crimson-seared green light streaked forth from within the crumpled mass, and Savior figured he had better get out of the area: it was about to suffer some serious collateral damage. Shimmer strands flew out and began coiling around and beneath him.

The cars exploded outward as Sizzle blew them away from her with a scream, and Savior did a Matrix dodge backwards as one of the spinning, flaming automobiles flew over his form, and even as the cars crashed down and Sizzle flew up, Savior leaned back up and then was in the air, flying up and backwards as Sizzle let loose with a barrage of rage-imbued Starbolts, and suddenly every single car in the parking lot was exploding, the entire ground beneath Savior erupting into an inferno of flame as he flew up and back, aiming for the building behind him…

And then Sizzle exploded up from the flames, heading straight for Savior. He saw her coming…long enough to get out one word.

"Shit."

Sizzle's uppercut, her power enhancing Starfire's great strength, could have cracked Savior in half, or at least smashed her arm straight through his rib cage and out his back…if the Shimmer hadn't come to the rescue again, as the white energy sprang out and formed as much as a shield it could over the expected to be struck area…as Sizzle uppercutted Savior so hard it sounded like a gunshot. Danny, from the street where he had managed to pull himself (or at least until the explosion of the parking lot had knocked him on his ass again), winced in pain as the sound rang through the air over the dull roar of the fire, and with a yell Savior was thrown backwards and off into the distance, smashed straight across the city limits.

Sizzle smiled with wicked angry satisfaction.

"Shoryuken."

* * *

She had not been killed by the missiles, indeed, their explosions hadn't gotten anywhere near her, as Raven had teleported at the last second. Too last second, as while the explosions had not harmed her, the shockwave had seriously disrupted her concentration, and when you were utilizing such a talent as instantaneous movement between one area and another, having your concentration disrupted can be lethal, and though Raven had managed to return to the physical plane, the disrupted concentration had made the trip even worse to her head and body then when she had had to stop all the vehicles on the highway. Now, tucked away in an abandoned convenience store, lying in the isle that sold chips and cookies at way too high prices, Raven tried to gather herself. This had been a long long fight, and Raven had limits. And when exceeding those limits can result in the literal explosion of your head, one must be careful when one is going to push oneself. 

But she wasn't so banged up that she couldn't tell a few things about the battle, and it filled her with dread. Starfire's essence, the happy yet fierce spirit Raven knew as her friend…she had felt Sizzle possess her, felt that essence suddenly fade and grow murky and dim, covered by something so horrible, so full of pain and rage and hate, that Raven dared not look at it directly lest it damage her sanity. Raven could feel Cyborg as well, trying so hard to get out and help, pushing against the limits of his mechanical body like he had before…and Danny, the poor kid, who had fought so hard and so long and yet in the end had lost anyway, at least in the sense of the Thermos. And Noel…her love…

He was about to hit ground, and it was going to hurt.

That wasn't what worried Raven.

What worried Raven was that even after such a blow, Savior would probably keep fighting, all by himself.

And his last name wasn't Stu. Against Sizzle in Starfire's body, Noel could only give the madwoman the runaround for so long, and then he'd be toast.

Literally.

* * *

Savior came down on an area where Amity Park was expanding its suburban neighborhood, a large construction site filled with several neat rows of the wood frameworks of houses surrounded by heavy machinery and piles of materials that would be needed for the assembly. Fortunately, the workers for this site had the day off, probably because the same company that had been building the steel building structure that Cyborg had inadvertently turned into a house of cards a few chapters ago was doing it. 

Savior went crashing straight through the roof of one of the houses, the Shimmer doing what it could to protect him from the velocity of the fall combined with the whole falling through a tough wood framework. The result of said protection was great for any serious damage to his form but not so great for stopping the pain.

The wood in the house was good stuff, which in the end mean that Savior only went through the first floor under the roof framework before he had bled off enough momentum to stop his fall, crashing down onto the second floor down amidst a shower of wooden debris and sawdust. He spasmed once, violently, and then lay there, blood leaking from his wounds.

Savior saw the world splitting into threes…and then it was coming back to ones as he forced his brain out of the murk. His right arm twitched, and then reared up, the fingers clenching, and then slammed down into the wood with determination.

"Pain is weakness leaving the body…" Savior hissed to himself as he pulled himself over onto his stomach. "Pain is weakness leaving the body…" He repeated as he shoved himself up, bits and pieces of wood falling around him with dull clunks. "Pain is weakness leaving the body…" He said a third time as he got up to his knees, clutching his left arm, which was now dislocated at the shoulder. The Shimmer fixed that swiftly, popping it back in as Savior screamed through clenched teeth. "Pain…is weakness…leaving the body…"

And then Savior began to sweat. It was suddenly very hot.

There was no gradualness in what happened: the entire wooden structure of the house suddenly exploded into flames, and Savior reeled back as he found himself right in the middle of an oven. And the fire wasn't just there, it was spreading, as house after house went up like they had been coated head to toe with napalm.

But while the entire house was on fire, much like in the movies, the general area around Savior was free of anything save superfluous flame. And Savior knew there was a damn good reason for that.

Sizzle floated up before Savior, outside the house, smiling contently, her contamination twisting Starfire's normally joyous smile into something horrid, and then she raised an arm and gestured to Savior to come to her. "Just Bring It", once more: Dwayne Johnson should be getting paid.

Savior brought it, as he growled and leapt at Sizzle, the Shimmer springing out, a myriad of clutching, slicing, thrusting lines, an attack designed to confuse and panic…which didn't work in the slightest as Sizzle found her way through all the lines and once again backhanded Savior. This time, she wasn't so gentle: Savior felt his jaw wrench and come on the verge of unhinging even as he flew backwards, crashing through two more frameworks of wood that would have formed walls one day had Sizzle not decided to turn the area into her own personal playground. Savior's body hit the floor and nearly slid right off the periphery of the house, only the Shimmer stopping him from falling off the edge. Savior was vaguely aware that his clothes were smoking slightly: Raven's amulet might have provided some protection from the flames but it certainly wasn't going to let Savior do a dance in them.

"I don't know why you bother…" Sizzle said as she floated through the holes, as Savior got to his feet (well, more like the Shimmer shoved him up onto his feet and helped hold him up). "You've been with this team a long time Noelly. Starfire's seen a lot of what you do, and what she hasn't seen, well, the ladies don't do girl talk very often, but they do it, you disgusting freak."

"I'm not disgusting." Savior replied with finality. He didn't care about whatever memory Sizzle had accessed; she would spin it until it suited her pre-conceived views about males.

"You all are. Genitalia with legs, doing all your thinking with your smaller head…I think I'll make you eat them…" Sizzle was saying…

The Shimmer strands exploded from behind her.

And Sizzle snapped out her left hand, grabbing the strands as they came from her rear, stopping them dead.

"I told you! Everything! Including how you like to stand still and yak a bit while you stick your little lines out your foot and under the ground, but this time…" Sizzle said, as she glanced behind her and laughed briefly, before turning back. "You…"

She shouldn't have glanced back.

Because that's what Savior had been planning on: that Sizzle would know the move, but assume that said move was his attack plan. It wasn't. The plan was for Sizzle to look back at what she had grabbed…and when she had Savior had started sprinting, and there wasn't much distance between the two, as Sizzle's eyes widened and then her right hand exploded in crimson green energy, thrusting it out…

Savior made it there first, as he leapt up, his right foot kicking up and striking Sizzle's hand, sending it up as well, the Starbolt flying past Savior at an upward angle, smashing through the roof and arcing down several homes away and blowing one of the already burning houses to bits, and even as that happened Savior followed the right foot up with the left one, striking Sizzle under her chin and using other Shimmer strands to add as much oommpphh as he could. Which was a fair amount, as Sizzle was sent flying up through the wood floor, smashing another hole through the burning timber, even as Savior completed the flip and landed on his feet.

He placed a Shimmer filter over his mouth and took a deep breath so he wouldn't choke on the smoke (which, due to the framework nature of the houses, wasn't gathering too much), and then he used the Shimmer to pull himself up to the top floor, where a pissed off looking Sizzle was getting up. Savior looked around, and then he thrust out his hands. The Shimmer spiraled out and formed into two rough fans, fans that began to spin and blow the flame away, right at Sizzle, flame that she stared at as it enveloped her…and then she scoffed.

"Fire? You're using…?" Sizzle said, before she realized this was clearly a distraction. The fire wasn't supposed to hurt her, it was supposed to block Savior from her vision…so he could swing around the house while picking up a flaming two by four, a two by four he was now swinging into her head, the flaming wood thunking loudly on the side of the alien's skull, actually stunning Sizzle, just for a bit, which allowed Savior to whack her with the wood three more times before he fell through the floor, at his own accord, as Sizzle finally recovered and was about to blast him. Her eyes blazed, and she thrust up her hands, preparing to nuke everything below her…and then Savior erupted from the floor behind her, the fire having weakened the formally tough wood. Sizzle turned around to get a mid air snap kick to her face, making her stumble back a bit, but the blow just seemed to make her angry as she flew back at the teen, thrusting out her fist with the intent to take his head right off, except Savior grabbed the blow with his hand and the Shimmer and redirected it over his shoulder, even as he leaned forward and twisted his leg up, slamming the sole of his boot in Sizzle's face with a scorpion kick, and then as he leaned back he yanked, hurling Sizzle over him. The woman flew…and then stopped, as Sizzle kicked in Starfire's flight powers, turning around, only to find Savior had already kipped up and was running at her, already right in her face, as he leapt and actually stepped on Sizzle's outstretched leg before he pushed off it, flying up and over Sizzle…

As the woman finally wised up and spun her own body up, her leg lashing out and catching Savior in the chest. Savior flew out of the burning house, crashed straight through another one, and then hit the ground and bounced/slid into the ground floor of the next one.

Sizzle corrected her position, cracked her neck, and then smiled contently as she flew out of the house, the battered, burning wooden structure finally collapsing behind her. She floated through the second house and down to the floor of the third one where Savior was managing to get up again. He was glaring balefully at her, but that just made her happier.

"Loss of power and control and you're all upset. Classic signs of a batterer exposed." Sizzle almost chirped.

"Oh fuck you and whatever twisted murk you pulled your would be degree from!" Savior snapped, and fired off a Shimmer line. Sizzle effortlessly dodged around it and flew up to Savior, who seemed to be ready as he caught her with a powerful right hook to the face, then a left one, and then a…

Sizzle caught his hand.

"You know…you're landing a fair amount of blows…but I might as well tell you…they're not really hurting me." Sizzle said.

Then she started squeezing as she yanked the arm back. Savior screamed as she ground the joints of his wrist together.

"But…I can certainly hurt you." Sizzle said, and then slammed her head forward again, smashing Savior's nose with her forehead and finally getting the blood fountain she'd wanted the last time, before she drove her knee deep into his gut, took a step back, and then lashed her foot up, smashing Savior backwards through another wall. She chuckled and then flew over to where the white teen was trying to get up.

A vicious albeit controlled so it didn't kill him, yet, kick to the ribs sent Savior flying and rolling several more feet, and he came to rest over a few bits of burned out but still rather hot wood. He started getting up…

Sizzle came down on him, one foot planting itself on his back and the other stomping down on the side of Savior's skull. Savior screamed again as his cheek was forced down on one of the wood embers. Sizzle laughed.

"What are you? The master of the world? You? This?" Sizzle taunted, and ground her foot, twisting Savior's face against the smoldering ember, Savior screaming again as he felt his own flesh burning, so close he could smell it…

"No. You're just pathetic, worthless, sick, SHIT. And you're where shit always ends up: under my heel." Sizzle said. "Oh, I just wish it hadn't been so easy, but how can a fight go when you know every trick a person has?"

Savior growled something.

"Oh? You have something to say, daddy's boy?" Sizzle asked.

"Not…EVERY!" Savior snarled, as he finally managed to twist his foot in the right direction and then slammed his heel down.

Twin sections popped off Savior's boots, and with two quick bangs Savior's form was suddenly enveloped in thick, noxious smoke. Sizzle's eyes widened, and then she started choking and retching as the gas, part concealment and part disabler, bloomed up around her before she could react. She felt Savior pull himself out from underneath her foot, but she couldn't see where he went as the gas hid him from her vision. She screamed in rage and tried to blow the toxins away, but she couldn't quite manage it. That, and the fact that Savior was so paranoid that he'd made a gas that he was immune to but his teammate was not and hid it in his boot and not told anyone…well, Sizzle's contented cruelty was quickly flashing back into blazing rage.

So when she saw the silhouette to her side, she immediately swung at it.

And found her arm getting caught, as Savior fell down in a controlled move, yanking Sizzle with him, his left arm pulling her arm aside and out of the way as he simultaneously snapped his knee up and slammed his right hand out in a hammer motion, the two limbs smashing into each side of Sizzle's head, the blow royally screwing up the alien's equilibrium, which left her wide open as Savior let go of her arm, cocked back his left hand as the Shimmer wrapped around it, and slashed it back up, striking Sizzle right between the eyes, sending the alien girl flying back through the house and out of it, as she flew a dozen more feet before colliding with the side of a bulldozer so hard she left a dent. She fell on her arms and knees, trying to regain her senses. As mentioned, Starfire's body was so tough that Savior couldn't, for all his efforts, damage it. But that didn't mean she couldn't be stunned.

Or otherwise inconvenienced, as Sizzle was just getting her symmetry back when she saw Shimmer lines fly over her head, at least a dozen of them, and grab onto the bulldozer behind her, and she looked over as Savior landed in front of her, all the lines extending from one hand.

"Who am I?" Savior asked, the terrible burn on his face only making his intense expression more potent, as he twisted the Shimmer around his hands. "I'm Savior. I beat the bad guys."

And he yanked backwards with all his might, and Sizzle could only look up as the bulldozer tipped up…and then over onto her with a dull crash.

Savior withdrew the lines, and then he leaned over, gasping. Contrary to what you might think, he had not just cold-heartedly utilized an extreme measure that could have seriously injured his teammate. As mentioned, heavy rains had made the ground extremely wet: the mud under Savior's feet was up to his ankles. That, combined with Starfire's tough body, probably prevented any injury. He'd probably taken more risk with the cars before. He just hoped she didn't suffocate…

The bulldozer suddenly flew back up, and Savior grimaced as Sizzle's standing form tipped the bulldozer off her and all the way onto its other side, mud splattering on the back of the already covered in it alien girl. He'd hoped the weight would hold her longer then a few seconds. He could use the time for a breather, and hopefully a delay until some backup arrived.

Strangely, Sizzle didn't look angry. No, she actually looked…amused. Somehow, that made Savior more worried then if she had been screaming mad. Angry "burn baby burn" Sizzle was dangerous, but at least Savior knew what to expect. But Sizzle when she was actually calm enough to think…not so much.

"Not so good at the bad girls I see though." Sizzle said, and then the mud on her form suddenly lightened, instantly transformed into dirt that cracked off Sizzle like dead skin, leaving her relatively clean. "You know, I've realized two things. You can't really hurt me, and you're annoying. So I think I'll hand you off and go deal with someone who really deserves to know how he fucked up."

Savior didn't need to be a skilled tactician to know whom she meant: Danny. Powerless, helpless Danny.

"Go ahead then. Run away like the bitch you are." Savior replied.

"Ah…trying to become the focus of my fury, Noel? I'd be glad to do that…except I know, or rather she does, that that's just what you want. So no, you don't get my attention. Maybe later." Sizzle said, and rose up from the ground. "But I do have a lovely parting gift!"

Savior was already in the air after Sizzle: he would have caught her if she hadn't suddenly called a wave of flame off the burning houses around her, putting it between her and him. Savior recoiled away, not wanting to jump through a wall of flame that was under Sizzle's control, and as he drew back his eyes widened as the flame spiraled down…and contracted as it formed a shape.

A humanoid shape.

Savior stared at it. Sizzle had made a fire being, human in profile. If Savior had belonged to another comic book company he might have thought the creature looked like a certain somebody known as Johnny Storm…except that Storm had a body covered in fire. This body WAS fire, the shifting heat giving the form a mirage-like feel, as if it was barely there.

"Have fun playing!" Sizzle laughed, as she flew off. Savior's eyes snapped back to her, and then he was back in the air, heading after her. He'd be damned if he…

And then the fire being was there, again putting itself at its mistress' defense, as it lashed out with a crudely formed leg, and while it looked gaseous it certainly didn't feel that way as the limb slammed into Savior's chest and sent him down into the mud again. Savior rolled with it and came up to his knees, hissing through his teeth as he grabbed his chest. The damn creature's body acted like a branding iron: Savior's clothes were flame retardant but getting intense heat pressed right up against you isn't the kind of defense flame retardant clothes offered.

Sizzle was already disappearing into the distance, and the flame being was heading for Savior. Savior's eyes narrowed: he didn't have time for this, and he lashed out with a Shimmer line.

It went right through the fire being. Savior's eyes widened.

And then it was right in his face, showing scary speed. Savior was nothing more then a pro though, as he backflipped away from its punch and then fired off several Shimmer bludgeons. They all went through the creature, as its flame body slithered away from the lines and went for Savior again as he landed. Savior recalled the lines, frantically trying to think, and then the creature was there, lashing out with a roundhouse kick. Savior used the Shimmer to flip right over the creature as it attacked…and then the flame being twisted the top half of its torso around and backhanded Savior in mid air, sending the teen flying again. He managed to flip and land on his feet, growling and snarling as he grabbed his arm where the creature had struck after twisting its body around like Stretch Armstrong. Then again, it was an entity made of fire: it didn't have to worry about such things like muscles ripping and bones breaking when it performed its moves…

And speaking of moves, it was moving right for him. Savior growled as he wiped his mouth, wincing as his dirty jacket probably made his face worse…and then he realized he was standing in mud.

And what's one of the ways one can put out a campfire? Smother it. And though sand is usually called upon for that task, Savior figured a few hundred pounds of mud would do just as well for the charging flame figure, as Savior lashed out with a powerful, precise strike at the ground, sending a huge wave of mud up and over the being…

No, the mud wasn't going over IT, IT was going over the mud, due to a powerful leap. Savior snarled again as it landed before him and started towards the white teen like nothing had happened. Well, he was out of plans: time to fall back to the basics.

Savior wrapped his arms in Shimmer energy, and as the entity drew in close he lashed out with a punch. The head proved to be as malleable to Savior's fists as it had with the pure Shimmer, the general shape breaking apart from the blow and then reforming, and that just made Savior angrier as he fired off punch after punch, each having the same result…at least until the flame suddenly solidified around Savior's arm as he punched through the head, and Savior screamed again as the flame shifted around his appendage so the flame being was holding his arm in its crude hands, even as the heat seared through his jacket, and then the being was throwing him, and Savior flew across the lot and crashed into the windshield of a dump truck.

Groaning, Savior pushed himself out of the cab with the Shimmer, rolling off the end of the truck and falling to the ground, blinking to try and clear the blood that was now running into his eyes.

And then he saw it, the flame being running at him, leaping into the air as it prepared to swoop down on him, and as it did all Savior could think of was that this wouldn't serve him well at all, so he better prevent any impacts, and since the creature was already in the air he had better change its direction as best he could, as the Shimmer flowed out and formed into another crude fan that Savior thrust up…

A little too late, as Savior ended up thrusting the construct right into the fiery being's body as it came down. But Savior didn't realize this until he had already sent the mental command to "turn the fan on."

And it did, right in the middle of the fire entity's chest. It made no sound as the whirling Shimmer caught the flame of its form and disintegrated it, and Savior's eyes widened as the flame creature was swept up and torn apart, the high winds pulling its figure apart and casting it away, the flames fading out of existence.

Savior stopped the fan. The fire did not reconverge back into the humanoid shape.

"Ah." Savior said. So that was it: the fire being could hold itself together but only to a certain degree.

Then Savior recalled that Sizzle was after the damn rookie, and she had a considerable amount of distance on him. Cursing to himself, Savior ran out of the flaming construction site as the houses collapsed behind him.

Out of the fire…into the what?

* * *

Danny knew what he wanted to get into: a hospital. Not for him, his mother. Unfortunately, Amity Park only had one hospital open at the moment: the other was closed due to a bad something or other, and said working one was all the way at the end of the town. But that didn't daunt Danny in the slightest, as he continued to carry his mother down the street, her arm slung over his shoulders. He found that easier then carrying her in his arms, but even so, it was tiring. He'd hoped that he could find some police or an ambulance or something…but city services were mysterious absent. There wasn't even any sirens, where the hell was… 

And then Sizzle dropped down in front of Danny.

Danny stopped dead.

"Hey kid. Thought I forgot about you?" Sizzle asked.

"…….I had hoped." Danny replied.

Sizzle's Starbolt exploded at Danny's feet, sending him flying back with his mother. He rolled to a stop, gasping, and then realized he had lost his mother during his trip.

He spotted her several feet in front of him.

Sizzle was heading right for her.

Danny pulled himself to his feet and stumbled/ran to his mom, managing to get to her before Sizzle did, putting his body between him and the lunatic who was determined to kill him.

"Forget her! She's done nothing! Kill me if you have to, but leave my mother alone!" Danny yelled.

Sizzle paused.

And then she chuckled.

"Still don't get it, do you." Sizzle said. "Things have gone far beyond that fucker. Maybe if you'd been a good little boy and died back when I got out…but no, you had to fight. You had to be a MAN. So now everyone dies Danny. You, your family, your friends, this town. You fucked with the wrong girl kid. I've been fucked all my life, and believe me, when you get fucked a lot you learn HOW TO ROYALLY FUCK BACK!" Sizzle screamed, her eyes awash in psychosis, and Danny was no longer certain if Sizzle was still talking about him and her or what had happened to her long ago. He thought even she didn't know, past and present pains meshing together, forming one huge tableau of atrocity that Sizzle was determined to repay in spades, and he was going to bear the brunt of the sins, real, supposed, and imagined…

But he was ready to be Atlas.

"You're as bad as the ones who made you. No, you're worse." Danny said.

Sizzle went quiet.

Danny, though every instinct in his body was screaming at him to run, stood his ground.

"You…dare…SAY…" Sizzle said, as the heat exploded off of her, as her voice began to built to the same mad scream she had used when she was in Paulina and his mom's bodies…

But whatever Danny would have endured from his words was spared as Savior finally caught up, leaping from behind and above Danny and planting both his feet into Sizzle's face, sending her flying backwards into a Laundromat.

Danny blinked as Savior landed in front of him.

"…Thanks." Danny said. Savior looked back at Danny, and flashed him a quick thumbs up, though his tense expression didn't really convey any comradely sentiments.

"Best book kid. She'd gonna be REALLY pissed now." Savior said. Danny didn't argue: he grabbed up his mom and dragged her down a side street.

The Laundromat exploded, and then Sizzle floated out, clearly caught up in uncontrollable rage again.

"Hey bitch. Thought I forgot about you?" Savior asked.

Sizzle yelled as she thrust out her hands, and fire from the burning building behind her spewed out and formed into three more flame humanoids.

"Break his bones and then feed him his guts!" Sizzle yelled, and the three beings ran forward. Savior held his ground, striking a combat pose as they approached…

And then the ground erupted underneath them, throwing the creatures off balance, and then several Shimmer lines emerged and immediately combined into a giant whirling fan. Sizzle's eyebrows raised as the creatures were swept up and dissolved by the whirling tendrils, Savior pulling the lines apart so the flames couldn't combine into one big super-being. The flames didn't: instead they petered out and vanished. The lines retracted, and Savior gave Sizzle an arrogant smirk and waved a finger at her as if chastising her for forgetting one of his favorites tricks so soon.

Sizzle just snarled and called more fire from the burning building, this time forming seven fire humanoids. Savior didn't know why she was using that choice of tactic, but he was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth as the new group attacked. Savior formed a whirling fan blade with the Shimmer on his arm and thrust it out into the first one, dissolving it and then flipping away as two more attacked him. He reformed the Shimmer energy into arm guards, blocked several punches and kicks, and then did an interrupted backflip, leaping back and then cutting short the escape as, using the Shimmer to balance properly, he form two more disrupting fans on his legs and thrust them into the two entities attacking them. As they were torn apart, another leapt in to strike, but Savior was already on the move, resuming his backflip via the Shimmer and coming down to a crouch as he lashed out a leg, catching the creature by its ankles and throwing it into the air even as Savior formed another Shimmer fan and thrust it into the being, reducing it to nothingness. Savior didn't have time to celebrate: the final three flame humanoids were on the attack, and Savior was forced to go completely on the defensive as they punched and kicked at him, forcing him backwards and burning holes in his jacket and shirt as…

Savior did one final backflip, revealing that he hadn't just been retreating: he'd been leading.

Right to a fire hydrant.

Too bad the fire beings had no faces: Savior would have liked to see some kind of shocked expression when he tore the fire hydrant open. The water quickly did its job, quenching the flames immediately and dispelling the last of Sizzle's soldiers.

And she wasn't happy: the expression on her face made that clear. But no matter: she'd just make fifty new ones…

Until Savior attached the Shimmer over the shattered fire hydrant and rerouted the water straight into Sizzle, sending her flying back into the flaming Laundromat with a scream.

Savior couldn't help himself: he gave a haughty chuckle/snort, one side of his mouth curling into a sneer.

Then the Laundromat started to shake.

"In retrospect, maybe that wasn't the best choice of maneuvers." Savior said, and fired off a Shimmer line and started swinging.

The flaming Laundromat exploded into bits as Sizzle flew out in an eruption of fire, as she screamed and fired twin Starbolts after Savior, gigantic explosions erupting behind him as he swung around the corner and headed down the street (not the same street Danny had taken, though).

"Ok, I'd better stay in the center so I…" Savior was saying to himself before Sizzle flew around the corner and fired off a Starbolt. Savior banked a hard right as a giant explosion erupted behind him, and then swung back into the center. He glanced over his shoulder and then banked hard to the right again as another Starbolt flew at him…and then he squawked and pulled himself back to the center as Sizzle zeroed in on where he was, her eyes glowing bright green before she fired out beams of energy from her eyes, Savior barely pulling away from them as they raked across the side of the building and the street behind Savior, an explosion erupting alongside the line's wake. The end of the street was coming up, and Savior fired off one last Shimmer line and had it yank him upward instead of swinging on it, as he flew up and onto the roof of the building…

As a Starbolt flew to the exact same place. Savior's eyes widened.

"Shit!"

The explosion blasted across the entire roof and sent Savior flying back up, this time in a more uncontrollable arc, and the Shimmer flailed out, trying to find a purchase point, as Savior's vision spun around him from his out of control trip through the air.

And then the Shimmer grabbed something firm. Savior's trip was stopped, and he shook his head as the Shimmer reeled him back to its perch.

Which turned out to be one end of a roller coaster. Savior blinked and looked around: he was on the grounds of a fair that had been set up in one of Amity Park's, er, parks. Savior looked around at the rides and exhibits.

"Huh. Homage." Savior said.

And then Sizzle floated down in the distance in front of Savior, her eyes ablaze and her hands crackling with power.

"Not one I think I'll like though." Savior said, and ran for it, springing to another part of the roller coaster as the part he had just been standing exploded in a blast of heat and power, shards of metal and wood flying through the air.

Savior leapt again, and a second later a Starbolt flew to the spot where he had just been and blew it apart. Savior hit the ground (tracks?) running as Sizzle followed him with her arm, firing blast after blast that just kept missing, as explosions blasted across the tracks of the roller coaster as Savior ran for his life. The entire structure sagged as the detonations destroyed more and more of its supports, and Savior was rapidly running out of room, as he leapt one last time…

The Starbolt exploded behind him…as the second one flew in to the spot where Savior was about to land. His eyes widened, and Sizzle smirked. She wasn't the only one who could lead, as Savior's form came down on the tracks just before the bolt struck the spot, the explosion consuming him with a scream.

"Heh. Bullseye." Sizzle said.

And then Savior flew from the explosion.

Sizzle's eyes snapped open wide, not able to comprehend how he could be back so quickly after being blown up. Indeed, it had been mostly luck: Savior had formed as quick a shield as he could, but what really saved him was where the Starbolt has struck: more the side of the coaster then the actual track. As a result the explosion had only thrown him backwards: the immediately formed Shimmer shield took care of the shrapnel and Savior, thinking quickly, had fired twin Shimmer lines that had grabbed the roller coaster and then violently contracted, sending Savior flying back the way he had come.

"Ditto!" Savior yelled as he lashed out with a Shimmer roundhouse kick, smashing Sizzle from the sky. She crashed through the merry go round at an angle, the older ride sagging to the side as Sizzle finished her trip into the ground.

Savior landed.

And the entire roller coaster collapsed behind him in a tremendous metallic racket. Smoke and dust plumed out and flowed over Savior, but the air didn't stay obscure long, as Savior started walking towards Sizzle's impact spot, his bearing belying a calm he didn't feel.

Sizzle flew up with a scream, and she quickly spied Savior and fired off a Starbolt. Savior darted to the side, the energy blast flying past him and blowing up two game booths. Savior then leapt forward, lashing out with a Shimmer line. Sizzle blocked it and tried to fire another Starbolt, but Savior had kept moving and had actually rolled under Sizzle's floating form. Sizzle turned around as Savior came up with a high angled leaping kick using his shin. Sizzle blocked it in time, only to have the Shimmer spin Savior around so he slammed the heel of his other foot across her cheek. Sizzle was staggered, but far more due to surprise then pain, and she retaliated with her own kick. She only managed to deliver about 25 of the impact behind the blow as Savior was already moving away, but that was enough to floor him, his body hitting the dirt and dragging several feet along it before he flipped back up. Sizzle's eyes glowed green and she lashed out with another eye blast: Savior leapt into the air and did a spinning dodge as the energy beams barely missed him. The explosion they caused, however, did not miss them, sending him flying through the air, crashing through another game booth and then into another ride, the older whirling cups type. Savior shook his head, and then he saw Sizzle fly up into the air in the distance and he had to move, as he fired off a Shimmer line to carry him away as Sizzle fired off another Starbolt. The fairground worked against Savior: there wasn't anything to get any real height with in order to swing, and as a result Savior didn't escape the teacup ride exploding as his back and legs were riddled with shrapnel. He hit the ground at the end of a path between twin lines of booths selling food and offering most likely rigged games of chance and found his legs turning to jelly as he fell. He groaned: he couldn't keep this up much longer.

A yell of fury sounded behind him, and Savior looked behind him and up: the madwoman had already found him and was preparing more Starbolts. Savior looked back in front of him: nothing but booths leading up to the small Ferris Wheel. What could he possibly swing from or go to…

And then the Starbolts were coming, and Savior had to go, and since the Shimmer wasn't going to help at the moment Savior resorted to his feet and ran for it, the stands exploding behind him as Sizzle rained fiery destruction down on the fair, trying to change Savior's position from "in the vicinity" to "all over the vicinity". And he wasn't outrunning them: the explosions were getting closer and closer…

And then Savior saw two more Starbolts arc over his head, and he realized they were going to come right down at the base of the Ferris Wheel, which was where he was heading. And the explosions were still closing in behind him. Unable to go forward or back, Savior went the only way he could: up. And since he had no time to plan it properly, as he fired off twin Shimmer strands, grabbing near the top of the Ferris Wheel's framework, he went a lot farther up then he wanted, as he contracted the lines as hard as he could, and instead of just being pulled away from the erupting blasts he found himself flying straight into the air like a rocket, going up past the top of the Ferris wheel and high into the sky.

"Oh dear." Savior said, as he managed to turn around and saw the fair growing smaller in the distance.

Savior's sorrow was about to be doubled: not only did his ascent go much higher then he wanted, but for some reason it really pissed Sizzle off. Maybe she thought he was trying to get away, as she stopped near the base of the Ferris Wheel Savior had used to get up so high…and then her eyes fell on it.

Then she had a wicked idea.

"Let's see how strong this body REALLY is." Sizzle said, as she flew over to the true base of the Ferris Wheel where the rolling circle was attached to the ground brace and began yanking.

"What the hell…" Savior said, as Sizzle growled/screamed, the veins standing out on Starfire's body as she tried to force the Wheel off its moors. As Savior watched with wide eyes, fire exploded on the wheel, and the ride quickly became completely wreathed in flame.

"No way, Starfire's strong but she's not strong enough to…"

With a scream of exertion and triumph, Sizzle yanked the Ferris Wheel from its base. Savior was right: Starfire by herself probably could not have ripped the Wheel off its stand. But Starfire backed up by an enraged Sizzle…that was just enough to tear the ride free, as Sizzle briefly held it over her head.

And then, with another scream, an energy explosion detonated on Sizzle's hands, and the wheel was sent flying up from the force of the detonation.

Right at Savior.

Who had finally run out of upward momentum and was stopping.

As the wheel flew up, Savior rapidly ran through his options. Gravity was starting to claim him again, but the wheel would reach him before it did so enough that he could fall away from it. Raven and Cyborg were still MIA, and Savior had programmed the damn T-Ship to fly back to Sam's house and land there before he had gone to deal with the missiles. And the Shimmer had nothing to grab onto or shove off in mid-air, and he couldn't form anything that would give him the away motion he needed in the several seconds he had. And if he grabbed onto the wheel itself, Sizzle could very well send her flames off the metal structure and roast Savior while he was stuck holding onto the wheel. And he doubted that Superman was going to swoop by and save the day. That happened every now and then…but never when one needed it.

So Savior was down to one option: if he couldn't get away from the wheel, and for the sake of Sizzle's fire control he couldn't grab onto and stay near the wheel…he'd go THROUGH the wheel.

If he could.

Hell, it worked with the car.

Never mind that going through some safety glass and doing through a flaming metal framework without killing oneself wasn't exactly in the same league.

A Shimmer strand extended from Savior's shoulder, and Savior grabbed it with both hands, and then he simultaneously curled into a ball as he yanked on the line, sending him into a tight spinning somersault as he started flying down, gravity adding to his speed. As Savior spun down towards the deadly flaming Ferris wheel, a multitude of Shimmer strands extended from his body and formed into a mass of curved spikes and blades, even as the spin went even faster and Savior became a white blur…

Which smashed into the upper side of the Ferris Wheel as it flew up at him. With a tremendous metallic crash, Savior flew through the other end of the framework, bits of flaming metal flying past him as he continued to shoot down towards the ground.

"NO!" Sizzle screamed as she saw this. "FUCK!"

Sizzle fired a Starbolt at the falling form, but he was moving too fast for her to get a decent shot and it missed him by a mile. Savior didn't even notice: he had a new problem. He'd worked up enough speed to go through the wheel, but now he was falling towards the ground at high and ever-increasing velocity and as mentioned the buildings in the park were far too short to allow him to grab them in order to bleed off any momentum. In the end, it looked like Savior was going to hit the ground. The Shimmer had let him go through the wheel, now it had to prevent him from going splat.

And it was already working, as the white energy reformed from spikes and blades to a octagonal cage around Savior's still spinning form, more lines shooting out and forming a more complicated trellis as Savior plummeted down…and down…

And hit. The impact shook the whole park, and a giant plume of dust and dirt flared up. A few seconds later the Ferris Wheel came crashing back to Earth, making an even more tremendous racket then the roller coaster had.

Then an eerie silence.

Coughing and retching, Savior dragged himself from the hole. His body felt like it had been run over by a steamroller. Well, at least he'd survived without serious injury…though his body certainly wasn't thanking him.

"Dammit Sonic, you make it look easy." Savior said, as he flexed his fingers a few times and tried to get up. His head swam, and he fell to his knees again, gasping. But Noel Collins came from good stock, and he was already recovering from the impact, as he tried to get up again. He stumbled a bit this time, but kept his feet.

And then a scream pierced his ears. Sizzle had found him again, and she wasn't happy he was still alive.

"You know, if a girl with daggers wants to show up and help, I'd much appreciate it." Savior muttered, in a reference only one person will get.

Sizzle flew from the dust cloud Savior had kicked up, heading straight for the battered and burned teen, her hands outstretched and grasping, quite possibly to pull his heart from his chest, rip his head from his shoulders, or just burn him on the spot. Savior didn't wait around to find out, as the Shimmer sprang out and threw him backwards and up…not far enough, as Sizzle readjusted her position and flew right into Savior, her shoulder slamming into his stomach and driving the wind out of him as she flew on, carrying him with her. As they flew out of the park, Savior realized his precarious position and acted, lacing both his fists together and slamming them down on the back of Starfire's head before Sizzle could do whatever she had been planning. The blow was devastating, even to Starfire's immensely tough alien physiology, and Sizzle staggered under it, her flight path screwed up. She smashed Savior's back into an office window, the glass shattering as the two flew through the building, knocking aside and down everything that got in the way, and even as impact after impact rammed into his back Savior was still fighting, rearing up his clenched hands and slamming them on the back of Sizzle's head again.

Sizzle smashed through the window on the other end of the building just as Savior delivered this second strike, and the blow screwed her up even more so that she dropped Savior, falling to the ground. The white teen found himself in freefall along with the alien…

And then they both crashed down onto something.

A subway train, Amity Park's sole short train line that ran from one end of downtown to another, mostly above ground. The two Titans, one current and one currently disposed, bounced and tumbled across the roof. Sizzle put on the brakes before Savior managed to, stopping in mid air and then immediately beginning to fly backwards so her target wouldn't be carried past her. The aforementioned target had finally reached out and grabbed the roof of the speeding train. He shook his head, and then looked around in disbelief at where he was.

"God damnit, WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?"

Sizzle was attacking again, screaming as she flew at Savior, lashing out with a fist. Savior leapt backwards and found that doing so on a rapidly moving train was far trickier then it seemed, as the constant movement beneath his feet caused him to lose his balance when he touched down and then he was tumbling across the train again, the few passengers inside wondering what the hell was making the noise, as Savior bounced painfully across the last few cars before he flew off the end of the train. He was saved from a very painful impact on the raised bridge tracks by a Shimmer strand, which pulled him back as Savior quickly collected himself. He looked at Sizzle, who had realized he was still alive and was heading for him again, and then he looked around at his surroundings.

"Fuck it, might as well go whole hog." Savior said, and then Shimmer strands sprouted from his back and formed into arms that clamped down onto the sides and top of the train, both to give Savior a better brace and to complete the utter and absolute rip off. Hey, at least I'm admitting it.

Sizzle fired a Starbolt: Savior's new arms jerked him aside and the blast missed, and then they pulled Savior down as Sizzle kept flying at him, again trying to punch Savior's head off. Sizzle stopped and turned and got a face full of Shimmer arm/brace/tentacles/etc as Savior smashed her with two of the limbs, even as the other two carried him back across the train. Sizzle yelled as she was thrown with the blow, and then she got control of herself and flew after Savior. Another Starbolt shot at him: Savior dodged upward and then to the side as Sizzle charged at him again, clawing for his face. Savior contorted his body away and backhanded Sizzle: she responded by kicking him in the gut and driving the wind out of him again. She followed up the kick by slashing her hand out in a karate chop to break Savior's neck. The Shimmer pulled Savior away, and then one Shimmer leg lifted up from the train and grabbed Sizzle, slamming her into the metal roof of the subway and then thrusting her out and smashing her into the side of a building, dragging her along the surface in a line of broken stone and glass. Screaming, Sizzle pulled herself from the painful trip and yanked on the Shimmer line, HARD. Savior was almost pulled off the train, the Shimmer legs moving onto the side of the fast moving subway to keep him from falling off completely. Sizzle flew at the teenager, who barely managed to use the Shimmer to dodge out of the way of her arcing uppercut…and then turned, yelped, and just managed to press himself against the side of the train as another train zipped by on the other tracks, almost swatting Savior like a bug on a windshield. Back on the roof, Sizzle began charging up another Starbolt to finally blow Savior to bits…and then the Shimmer leg smashed through the window behind Savior, flew through the train as the three passengers in that car yelled and screamed at this chaos, smashed out the other end, and curled up and around the train to smash Sizzle in the back. She stumbled forward, the Starbolt dying on her hand, and then Savior pulled himself up the side, the three remaining legs throwing him upward as he uppercutted Sizzle under her chin and sent her flying back and off the side of the train.

Savior pulled himself up onto the roof again as Sizzle stopped just before she crashed into the side of another building. Screaming again (poor Starfire's throat was going to be really raw when and if the possession was ever broken), she zapped back after Savior, so quickly Savior barely managed to see her coming before she crashed into him, so hard she tore the Shimmer braces right out of the top of the train as the two bounced and flailed across the top of the subway, Sizzle flying so fast she actually outpaced the train…which Savior found out the hard way as she stopped abruptly and Savior bounced a few more feet and then found he was out of ground as he fell off the front end of the subway.

His hand jerked up and grabbed the edge at the last second, and the conductor yelled in surprise and shock as Savior's legs and lower body thudded into his viewing window. Savior was about to use the Shimmer to pull himself back up when he looked up…and saw Sizzle standing above him, smiling, a Starbolt charged and ready.

"Catch a train." She said, and fired.

Savior got a Shimmer shield up, but it didn't matter: the explosion blew him right off the edge, the window in the front of the subway exploding and sending the conductor stumbling back, as Savior fell down and then under the wheels of the train. He didn't even get a chance to scream.

"Ha ha! YES!" Sizzle said as she looked over the edge and saw nothing but constantly approaching track. Laughing again, she turned around to go back to the other end: she'd take a look at whatever hamburger the train had ground the bastard into and then she'd locate the boy again. "Farewell, forever, to that misogynistic woman beating…"

The shadow portal opened behind Sizzle.

And Savior flew out of it, his right foot slamming into Sizzle's back. Sizzle flew forward with such rapidity she quickly passed the entire train while still in mid air, and even as the last of the metal cars disappeared from under her Shimmer strands wrapped around her body and threw her to the side, her body smashing through another building and disappearing.

Savior landed on the tracks, even as the shadow energy formed into Raven and she tried to float down to Savior's side. She mostly made it before she collapsed, Savior preventing her from falling onto the tracks. She'd grabbed him at the literal last second, and paid for it, as she hadn't fully recovered yet. But she couldn't let her love keep fighting alone; he was going to get killed…

"Hey. You ok?"

"Just…got dizzy for a second…"

"Rae, you need a few more minutes. Stay here…"

"No. We have to stop her. This has gone on too long…have to…" Raven said, the determination in her words rendered rather ineffectual as she sounded like she was stoned.

"Yeah, we will. After you rest another minute. I can hold her off another minute. Ok?"

"No…" Raven said.

"Raven…please?"

Raven didn't get a chance to answer: another explosion sounded off in the distance. She looked up at Savior, who gave her a pleading "please I don't want to be the bad guy but I really think you should rest and if you don't I think both you and I will regret it so please stay here just for a bit" look and then he pulled away, firing off a Shimmer line and swinging off. Raven watched him go, and decided that yes, she probably would be more effective if she waited for the murk in her head to fade. She was tough too, it shouldn't take long.

Savior swung around the building and onto the newest street to acquire a crater due to Sizzle's latest venting of temper. And can you blame the girl for being mad? She's basically gotten nowhere for 117 pages!

Sizzle didn't need Starfire's ocular beams to burn a hole in Savior as he landed in front of her. Her gaze should have been enough. Most of her anger and hate had been focused on the boy, but this latest affront reminded her on how much she had hated Savior for the minute or so before her original death.

"So…" Savior said, and perhaps he has taken too many blows to the head from the level of danger he was playing at. "The expression doesn't really suit you…so what do I say…if you can't bring the heat, go back to the kitchen?" Savior said, and didn't give Sizzle a chance to answer as he leapt to the attack.

Sizzle didn't fire or strike at him: instead she brought her hands up and screamed, and then a dome of greenish-crimson energy formed around her, the power striking Savior both like a physical blow and an explosive shockwave, and he was flying again, his body managing to miss the two larger targets of a pair of buildings as Savior flew into an alleyway, flying all the way to the end as he crashed through garbage cans and foul smelling bags of refuse.

"Damn. I forgot Kory could do that." Savior said. "Ugh. That poor kid." He went on, referring to Danny as he got a nostril full of the reek that was now coating him. Trying to summon whatever strength he had left, Savior got up, shoving the garbage aside with the Shimmer.

He took one step before Sizzle's form appeared at the end of the alleyway.

"Well well. Dead end. How VERY fitting." Sizzle said. "You know, I gave you too much credit. Too much originality for you too much effort. Flame creatures and flying Ferris Wheels? No, you just deserve something simple…so…" Sizzle said, as she raised her right hand. She didn't charge a Starbolt: instead she called upon her original power as fire exploded in the air above her palm, growing in size and intensity, the heat driving Savior back…and then the fire went from red to a dazzling, brilliant white. Which was not good, for those who don't know fire: fire was red until it hit a certain temperature…at which point it became white. Indeed, the brick walls and street were already smoking, and bags of garbage were exploding and bursting into flame themselves. Savior was certain that he should be dead already from being close to such heat: maybe Sizzle was manipulating said heat for maximum drama. And pain.

"This body can do more then take a beating." Sizzle said, the fire illuminating her mad look quite well. "It has enough power to let me generate this. White fire. What a fitting end. NOW BURN!"

And Sizzle fired off the white fire as it expanded and filled the entire alleyway, heading straight for Savior.

Savior could only stare at it for a second before he risked having his entire body boiled, and lacking any other option, he went with what had always saved his life, as he crouched down, the Shimmer flying from his shoulders and back and forming a shield around and over him, Savior putting all his power into this shield, as he could already feel the roasting, consuming heat, and even as the Shimmer formed thicker and thicker as it tried to save his host, Savior reached under his shirt, yanked out the fire charm Raven had made for him, and clenched it tightly in his hand as he tried to force his willpower into it in the hope it might give him just the tiny little bit of extra guarding he needed.

The fire approached the white cocoon, and as sweat beaded on Savior's forehead and then immediately evaporated, Savior thought of the last time he'd been on the Watchtower, when Superman had called all their ilk there, as he spoke of how they did much but there was still more they could do…

And then the fire completely consumed him.

Sizzle laughed madly as the fire devoured the entire alleyway, the intense heat igniting what it didn't vaporize right out of existence. It might not have been agonizing, but it was certainly splendid, as Sizzle laughed and laughed…

The white line smacked into her face and sent her across the street, smashing into the wall, her laugh rudely interrupted and then cutting off completely as the line withdrew…and then Savior emerged from the alleyway, the Shimmer carrying him out through the fire and to the front, setting him down, and Sizzle goggled at the teen as he stood there, backdropped by the flame, and actually smiling at Sizzle…a goofy, sheepish smile. He'd survived, again…but his head felt like it was floating. Probably because the backlash of trying to protect its host from the flame had caused the Shimmer to blow more then a few synapses in Savior's brain. No problem, the Shimmer could also regenerate nerve tissue…given time.

And from the way Sizzle was clawing at the air and at her face and hair, Savior probably didn't have much time left: the expressions were those of someone completely teetering on the edge and about to fall off.

"WHY CAN'T YOU **JUST DIE!**" Sizzle screamed, and then she fired off two Starbolts, her aim as wild as her mood, but it didn't much matter as the bolts struck the buildings around Savior and the explosions blew him through the air, the Shimmer only able to provided token defense as Savior crashed down near the street. Screaming, Sizzle flew up and fired two more Starbolts. That explosion sent Savior crashing through the window of a convenience store (ironically the same store Raven had been recuperating in), as Savior crashed through the rows of food and knocked them over like dominoes. The trip ended with Savior banging his head against the glass case that held soft drinks and beer, a spider web of cracks appearing around the impact as the teen slumped down.

Then he moaned and started blinking, systems finally coming back online, so to speak. Savior shook his head and managed to get to his feet again, trying to figure out where he was…

The scream caught his attention, and he looked out the street to see a Starbolt heading his way.

"SHIT!"

The back door was fortunately close by: Savior booked through it and ran for the exit, the store igniting behind him and blowing him out the door and into another alleyway. Savior ran down the alleyway and out of it, trying to orient himself, figure out what to…

Sizzle dropped from the sky, and before Savior could react she punched him across the entire street.

* * *

Danny had gone in a circle: he knew it. He wasn't the best at directions, and the current situation didn't help matters. As a result, Danny had found himself looking at the still slightly smoking wreckage of the Fenton-copter, as he wracked his brain trying to figure out where he had gone wrong and how to avoid it. 

Then he heard the noise, and he didn't need any real experience to know what was coming. His Ghost powers still weren't turning back on, so Danny quickly booked down another alleyway. He hid his mom behind some (relatively) clean cardboard boxes and then snuck back to the alleyway entrance to check which way the fight was going…

And then he saw Savior fly past said entrance. He started, and then he hid behind some garbage cans in case Sizzle was following him.

Savior landed and bounced once, and then came to a stop, his face covered in purplish bruising. He had nothing left: the heat had completely sapped what was left of his strength, and he knew that Sizzle was getting tired of pounding on him and when she got tired he was dead. He needed a plan, a plot, a miracle, a…

And then he saw it.

Sizzle flew around the corner, looking for her target and finding him quickly. He was past the wreckage of her former ride, which gave her a strange feeling of nostalgia. The teenager was crawling, on his hands and knees, feebly trying to get away. Sizzle, her burning rage dying down again, took great satisfaction at the pathetic nature of the scene, and flew towards him. She wanted a few more good punches.

Danny ducked down behind the cans as Sizzle flew past, and then he popped out and carefully snuck to the edge of the alleyway, peeking around the corner…and watching Sizzle walk up to Savior, pick him up with no resistance, and throw him back first into a wall. Danny winced.

"Well, you're a tough nut to crack…but I certainly think it's about time I cracked those nuts." Sizzle said to the trying to stand Savior, and then she lashed out with a vicious kick to the sensitive area all males have. Savior wore a cup, but when your opponent has super strength, that doesn't help much. Savior fell to his knees, the look of absolute shock on his face most amusing to Sizzle, as she grabbed his hair and then tossed Savior back to the middle of the street.

"Ah man…ah man…" Danny said as he watched the beating. It was clear Savior was out of it, and Sizzle had nothing to stop her from beating the teen to a pulp. Much like Sizzle would have done to him if Savior hadn't intervened…

He owed him, and as Sizzle approached and then savagely kicked Savior in the ribs, sending him tumbling down the street a bit more, Danny crept out from the alleyway and began sneaking towards the woman's back.

"Well…there comes a time in a woman's life when she finally has to stop collecting the garbage and actually toss it down into the incinerator." Sizzle said, as she slowly walked up to Savior, who had managed to get up and crawl a few feet before collapsing again. "But I'd like to actually thank you. You let me judge on just what the boy will be capable of absorbing. That way, I can make sure it's ten times more painful for him then it was for you." Sizzle said, as she continued her approach. Savior was up and trying to crawl again, and then he coughed violently, holding his hand to his chest.

"What, no blood? You must drink your calcium!" Sizzle said, wondering how exactly she should fry Noel's ass.

As Noel, his eyes intense and ready, faked another cough, as he kept his hand to his chest…the Fenton Mini Ghost Catcher held close to his torso, tucked under his sleeve from where he'd spotted it on the street and retrieved it before Sizzle followed him. Now she just had to get close, and then Savior would deal with her, as he put on a pained, pathetic expression and turned to look up at Sizzle, his eyes pleading for a mercy he knew damn well she wouldn't give. But Sizzle was too caught up in her moment to recall from Starfire's memories the fact Savior would never beg for mercy (and indeed, she was currently involved in a bit of a struggle with the alien's personality as the alien girl utterly refused to let a teammate die by her own hand, but Sizzle was good enough to repress a mother, she could repress Starfire).

"Oh, look at the little dog. Who's the bitch now?" Sizzle said, as she finished shoving Starfire down, even as fire wreathed her hand. She lifted it up, as she stepped in close…

"You are." Savior replied. Sizzle's eyes widened, as the Mini Coast Catcher snapped from under Savior's jacket sleeve and…

"NO YOU DON'T SIZZLE!" Danny yelled as he leapt on the alien's back.

Savior stopped dead. He'd been so focused on Sizzle he'd never even seen Danny coming. Then his eyes widened as he realized his whole plan was going belly up.

"NO! OUT OF THE WAY KID!" Savior yelled, trying to get in so he could zap Starfire, but she was thrashing about too much as Danny tried to hold on and claw at Sizzle's face at the same time.

"ARRRGGGHHH! YOU LITTLE SON OF A BITCH!" Sizzle screamed, as she finally reached back, grabbed Danny, and leaned forward as she hurled him into Savior, just as Savior was trying to get in close for a zap. The impact knocked him right off his feet and the Mini Ghost Catcher right out of his hand, and as Savior and Danny fell to the ground in a heap Sizzle's eyes were caught by the spinning device…and then she realized what it was, that Savior had it, and that he'd managed to play her for a fool.

Savior shoved Danny off of him and was getting up…as Sizzle screamed and fired off a Starbolt, blowing the Fenton Mini Ghost Catcher into nothing. Savior's heart plummeted.

"You…both of you…won't die…won't learn…won't ARRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIRRRRRAGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" Sizzle screamed, throwing her head back. Savior recoiled as the buildings around him suddenly exploded into fire, explosions that carried all the way down the street and outward from it.

Raven, flying in, recoiled herself as a whole square block of Amity Park erupted into flame, even as Savior, automatically putting himself in front of the defenseless Danny, looked as Sizzle lowered her head, Starfire's green eyes literally alight and burning. It was like looking into the gates of hell.

"Now…if you don't mind…" Sizzle said with eerie calm. "I would much appreciate it IF-YOU-**BURRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNN!"** Sizzle screamed as she thrust out her hands.

Savior was already in the air, a Shimmer strand grabbing Danny and carrying him along, as a gigantic jet of flame spewed from Sizzle's hands, barely missing the two as Savior flipped over the possessed alien. He let the line holding Danny go, leaving the poor kid to fall awkwardly on the ground with a yell of pain, but Savior didn't care. Danny's good intentions had led them straight into hell…and as a result Savior only had one move left before he and the kid were reduced to greasy ash.

He could have done this at any point in the battle, but he didn't want to. From an attack mindset it was the equivalent of a nuke: it might destroy the enemy stronghold but it also destroyed everything around the stronghold and blighted the ground so nothing can grow. He'd saved it as a last resort, no other options available move…and that time had sadly come.

He still hated himself for it, as Sizzle realized Savior was directly behind her.

"I'm so sorry Kory." Savior said.

And then he thrust out his hands, his thumb and forefinger clamping down on two points on the back of Starfire's right shoulder, even as Shimmer lines flew from Savior's left hand and slammed themselves into four other points around Starfire's lower back.

Sizzle's eyes widened.

And then she started screaming, as her body flooded with pain, absolute utter agony, as Savior pressed down on six pressure points of Starfire's alien body. In Tamaranian combat, the elite soldiers were taught about these nerves centers: striking or pressing certain ones could result in favorable results, in combat terms anyway. But the points couldn't be pressed all the same time by Tamaranians, their hands couldn't do it. But Savior's Shimmer could…even though he knew doing it would result in this.

Starfire's terrible pain hit Raven like a wrecking ball, nearly knocking her right out. To Starfire, it was like every nerve in her body was on fire, much like how Savior felt when the Shimmer was cut by a blade. But that was just a brief albeit intense flash of torment. This was constant for Starfire, a torture right from the depths of hell Sizzle had escaped….Sizzle, who had forced Savior to use this move, because she was so closely linked up to Starfire that everything the alien felt, she felt, and she was screaming right along with Kory as her logic and planning and anger and even her madness was flooded away by pain pain pain unlike any she had ever known and she had to get out out out OUT…

The flaming form pulled itself from Starfire's body, the screams becoming in stereo and then just fading to one as Sizzle pulled herself free and flew away. Savior immediately let go of the points, and Starfire collapsed into his arms, passing out immediately. He held the alien girl, who by her nature cared so deeply for her friends, cared enough that she would share such secrets with them in case they were ever needed with Blackfire or if she went rogue…but she shouldn't have had to endure this…

Sizzle screamed in rage as the pain finally faded away and she realized how she had been kicked out of her host, her mighty host. Savior matched her rage, as he lowered Starfire to the ground and stood up, finding new strength and ready, willing, and able to put Sizzle down.

"YOU FUCK!" Sizzle screamed.

"Fuck you." Savior replied, and fired off an onslaught of Shimmer blades. Sizzle flew back to avoid them, firing a blast of flame, but without a host her fire was feeble and Savior just blocked it with a Shimmer shield and lashed out again…

And then Sizzle saw it, as Raven was again approaching, but seemingly a little loopy, probably because of the pain thing, and Sizzle smiled to herself and flew low to the ground.

Raven flew in.

Savior's eyes widened.

"RAE!"

"Hey girlfriend! Your turn!" Sizzle said as she suddenly flew up, and Raven only had time to gasp before Sizzle flew into her and her being disappeared into the other female Titan. The goth girl spasmed a few times, and then went still, and then her eyes opened, Sizzle's now, as she looked down at an angry Savior.

"No. Fuck YOU." Sizzle replied, and raised her hand.

And then she jerked, like she had been struck from within. She shook her head, made a confused noise, and then she jerked again, her head snapping back like she had been struck in the face.

"What! No! Dammit no! You are mine! You will…!" Sizzle cursed, as her body twisted, spasmed, and jerked in mid air, and Savior knew that his lady hadn't been coming over unprepared. She'd anticipated and been waiting for Sizzle to possess her. And unlike all her previous hosts, Raven was an accomplished sorceress and half demon to boot. God he loved her.

"YOU WILL OBEY! YOU WILL A…Azarath, Metrion!" Sizzle screamed as her voice suddenly turned into Raven's cool, intense tone. "Reversiti Blankus ZINTHOS!"

Sizzle flew out of Raven's chest, spinning around and screaming in rage. Raven gave her a cool smile.

"You fucking bitch! I'll…wha…huh…what happened…what happened! I can't…my mind! I can't remember anything! I was in the helicopter and then…WHAT DID YOU DO! WHAT DID YOU DO!" Sizzle screamed.

"I figured you might have learned some sensitive stuff while in our friend's body. So I had a blanking spell ready when you tried to take me over. Wiped your last thirty minutes clean. Now I'll wipe the floor with you." Raven said.

"FUCK YOU! I DON'T NEED YOU! I'LL DESTROY YOU ALL MYSELF!" Sizzle screamed, as she raised her hand.

The electronic arming noise was very loud.

"Somehow I doubt that."

Sizzle twisted her head to look at Cyborg, on the roof of one of the buildings, even as it burned, his sonic cannon charged and ready.

"I'm back bitch. And I'm mighty pissed. Give me a reason." Cyborg said.

Sizzle looked from Cyborg, to Raven whose hands were now alight with black power, and then at Savior who was now armed with several Shimmer weapons, and then around, and finally settling on Danny, who was back near the Fenton-Copter wreckage, his eyes widening as he saw her look at him.

"Next time." She said. "Next time, IT ENDS."

And then she swirled into a loop and vanished, popping out of existence.

Within a second all her fires went out, leaving nothing but smoking ruins.

And Danny collapsed onto the ground, finally letting himself breathe. It was finally over.

For now.

* * *

Far far away, in the wreckage of a high school where this battle began oh so long ago, Tucker carefully picked his way over an overturned table, finally spying his target. 

"Sam? Sam?"

Sam's eyes fluttered open at the voice, her shifting consciousness finally called back to reality, and she muttered and raised her head, wincing slightly.

"Tucker?"

"Yeah Sam, it's me. You ok?"

"I…I think so…" Sam said, as she tried to get up. Tucker reached her side and helped her.

"Relax, you took a serious hit."

"A serious…oh god, where's Danny?"

"Fighting with the Titans…oh man it was bad Sam. In a good way AND the classic way. Sizzle's vaped a good chunk of Amity Park."

"You think they can beat her?" Sam asked.

"I'm sure of it! They're the Teen Titans!"

"What about Danny?"

"Oh, and Danny of course."

"Right…" Sam said, as Tucker helped her out. She needed a drink of water: she was thirsty as hell…

* * *

"Is she all right?" Cyborg asked as he walked over to where Savior and Raven were kneeling around Starfire's prone body. 

"Her life signs seem strong." Raven said, her eyes glowing slightly as she examined her alien comrade.

"That might not be the thing." Savior said, her voice both grim and choked up. "Tamaranians…they're strong…their brains aren't used to such pain. By doing that…I'm worried I might have shorted something out…made her a vegetable or something…the Shimmer can fix human nerve tissue, but I never tested it with Kory, I could have…" Savior said, his voice becoming desperate.

"Hey hey, hey man. Don't vacillate yet. Star's tough. She'll be fine, especially with you and Raven here. Relax."

Savior didn't look relaxed, as he glanced down at Starfire. Her face seemed almost peaceful now, but that didn't comfort Savior: it made her look like she was dead, a death Savior may have himself…

"Where's Danny?" Cyborg was asking. Savior gave a general jerk of his hand backwards to indicate Danny's position. "Hey Danny, you OK?" Cyborg yelled. Danny gave a weak wave. "Seems like Danny's not hurt at least."

"Yeah, considering I could have avoided all this if he'd just listened and laid low." Savior muttered.

"What Noel?"

"Nothing. And don't use real names in the field." Savior replied tersely,

"You called Kory Kory!"

"…Right. Still." Savior said. Cyborg frowned.

"Hey man, that's a pretty bad burn you have there." Cyborg said, commenting on Savior's scorched cheek. "Better have Raven fix it before it gets infected."

"Infections take time to take root. Raven can fix me later. You tend to Star now Rae. That's an order." Savior said as he stood up.

"Hey man, you said it yourself. Star's a soldier. She'll understand why you had to do what you did. I'm sure you used your best judgment." Cyborg said.

"Agreed. After all Savior, you're only human." Raven added.

"Yeah, and in this business that's a liability." Savior said, and then he headed over to Danny, needing to confirm something.

Danny watched at Savior approached him from where he was sitting, next to the wreckage of the Fenton-copter. He didn't look happy.

"…I'm sorry." Danny said as Savior came close. Savior had been about to speak, but Danny beating him to it, or more accurately his words, just added to Noel's foul mood.

"…The special Fenton Thermos was destroyed?" Savior asked.

"Yeah." Danny said meekly.

"And your dad probably won't be able to build another one for a while."

"…Several weeks." Danny said.

Savior didn't reply: he just turned his eyes skyward as if he was asking why he had been saddled with this kid, and then he put his hand into his palm, muttering. It made Danny feel bad, not to mention uncomfortable.

"…I just wanted to help!" Danny blurted out. Savior looked up from his hand at the kid: his intense expression, just bordering on anger, just made Danny panic and continue talking. "You saved me…my mom…I just thought…"

"I had it in hand. And I couldn't exactly signal you kid. Don't forget what forms the bricks on the way to the gates of hell." Savior said.

"………..I did my best." Danny said, feeling miserable.

The words made Savior look like Danny had insulted his mother.

"Your best? Your BEST?" Savior said. "Kid, it's the losers who whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen!" Savior snapped. Danny had no reply, and his expression just made Savior angrier.

"Well then, let's review this royally fucked up mess we called a battle, shall we?" Savior said. "No Sizzle, no Thermos, no idea when or where she'll strike next, god KNOWS how much property damage, and if there isn't a casualty from this shitstain of a fight it'll be the biggest miracle since the Red Sox!" Savior yelled, and then fixed Danny with a blistering look.

"Great job, ROOKIE."

And then Savior spun on his heel and walked away, heading back to his teammates. Danny watched him go for a bit, and then looked sadly down at his knees, as smoke swirled from the Fenton-copter and the ruins of his town around him.


	13. Incineration: Inglorious Bastards

Chapter 13: Inglorious Bastards

Writer's Note: Just so you know, before you read this, know that I do my best to keep my personal politics out of my work. I try to keep both sides' messages and opinions equal and not favorably lean them either way. I try. I may not succeed, but I try. Just so you know.

"It is not enough to possess a talent; one must also possess your permission to possess it – eh, my friends."

-Nietzsche, _Good and Evil_, Maxims and Interludes, 151

"We have to use the Oxygen Destroyer."

Savior's tone was serious and final, the type used by people who appear to be asking if there is any dissention in the ranks so they may make an example of it. And while Savior was not a merciless CEO or evil villain in the vein of Blofeld, he was certainly channeling their essence when it came to dealing with problems. At least now he was.

"We don't have any other choice." Savior continued. "The special Thermos we had made to contain her was destroyed, no need to go over how that happened again…" Savior said. Danny, the only one at the table besides the Titans themselves, appeared to experience a sudden interest in studying the wood grain. None of the Titans looked at him though, but it didn't change how the words made him feel. "And even if it wasn't, this battle has made it clear that all other options are futile. Even IF we could have caught Sizzle, we don't have anything we could do with her. Raven had yet to discover any kind of binding or imprisonment spell that would keep her captive, and since we have no idea how much of a time frame we're under, we'll have to go by the path that there is none. Under that thesis, which may yet be proven false, capturing Sizzle would have done no good. The Ghost Zone is far from a suitable prison: Sizzle could easily escape, and when she does…you've all seen her. Some of you really up close." Savior said, looking at Starfire, who nodded. In the end, the alien girl had managed to recover from the nerve attack Savior had been forced to utilize without any apparent damage, and Sizzle's mindwiping effect when she was separated from a host had actually caused her to forget the pain altogether. Even so, it didn't improve Savior's mood, because all HE could remember about it was her terrible screams, and that just added to the grimness of his demeanor: he still hated the fact he'd had to do that to a teammate. "She's absolutely out of control. She doesn't even hold up her so-called protection of females: she'll kill women if it suits her purposes. She's no Woe, that's for sure. Even IF we had caught her…the fact is, she'd just spent every moment she had trying to find another way out. Danny can't watch for her 24/7 for the rest of his life, and the second she slipped out, she'd find a new host and head straight for Danny, if she didn't just fly up and nuke Amity Park from orbit. Based on this…we have no choice but to eliminate her. And the only feasible way I can see of doing this is to use the Oxygen Destroyer." Savior said. "Cyborg, it IS your device. And I know you don't want to use it unless you've worked out all the bugs. But unless you can give me a VERY good alternate plan, I will have no choice but to order you to use it. I don't like it, in fact I hate it…but it's the last option."

"Didn't you bring freeze guns?" Danny suddenly piped up.

Savior looked at him, and Danny felt himself shrinking back from the gaze. Though he was trying to hide it and be fair, Danny had a feeling that Savior's distaste for his lack of experience, coupled with the fact that his backfired attempt to help had been one of the reasons that Starfire had been subjected to that nerve pinch, was starting to plunge his opinion of Danny from "inexperienced kid" to "outright annoyance". And though part of Danny knew that he didn't deserve the treatment…the other part couldn't help but keep thinking on how the only reason he had survived so far was due to extreme luck or the Titans bailing him out. Not to mention the battle this afternoon had completely exhausted his abilities: even now, Danny couldn't muster the ability to transform.

And even if Savior's mood should have improved after his snapping at Danny earlier that day and the fact that it hadn't should indicate a failure more on Savior's part then Danny's…what did he know?

Shouldn't Savior be more worldly in these things? He was a Teen Titan, the first to join after the original five had formed. Who was he? Danny Phantom?

But still…did that give him the right…

…It probably did. Danny was just a kid. Savior was a battle-scarred veteran who had faced some of the mightiest threats the Earth had ever been challenged by, and he had come through. Danny couldn't get good grades to save his life: Savior was coming up with solutions to problems within seconds of hearing them. The Titans' main nemeses were Slade "Deathstroke The Terminator" Wilson and the Lord of the Night. Who was his? The Box Ghost?

Yes, surely Savior knew what he was talking about…even if every other word seemed to be Danny's inadequacies. But then again, he probably was just pointing them out because they might yet screw something up more and cause new problems…

And he was talking again, responding to Danny's question.

"It is true that we possess several weapons confiscated from ice-using villains, along with a few others that our friend Cyborg has managed to jury-rig from their designs…but Danny, surely you understand that they are, more likely then not, distraction weapons at best. Based on the power she's manifesting now, I have no doubt she could melt her way out of any ice prison we could set up. Hell, she might somehow split the water molecules back into its hydrogen and oxygen components, and as you surely know, both are highly flammable. Make a note of that Cyborg." Savior said.

Danny felt as small as a bug again. There were Savior's qualities coming through again. Danny would have just zapped Sizzle with a freeze gun if he had it: Savior had theorized that such a tactic could actually make her stronger. Maybe it would be best if he kept his mouth shut. That was clearly what Savior wanted.

"No…with her ability to manipulate heat, I doubt we can quench it. And I doubt we can lure her to any place that won't have something she can ignite. The only option left is to get rid of the air. No air, no fire. And I doubt any of us can push her into outer space. As I have said, the only choice left is the Oxygen Destroyer. I propose that…"

"Hold on, I'm getting a news report." Cyborg said, raising a hand and placing it on the side of his head. Savior immediately stopped talking and picked up a remote to turn on a nearby TV to a local channel.

"Live from Amity Park, still, this is Chet Ubetcha!" Said the still alive albeit slightly singed reporter, as he looked gravely at the camera. "It has been several hours since the Apache helicopter terrorizing this city went down and the attack on it ceased. However, many strange things have happened since! We have seen no Army or government presence…"

That was because Savior had called up to the JLA Watchtower and told them what was going on, mostly on the fact that a war machine like a AH-64D Longbow Apache helicopter would surely send the Army/Air Force/Navy/some military division running to investigate, and had asked them if some of the higher members could have a talk with the Pentagon and tell them it might be best for them to stay out of the area for the moment or else they might become a target for something they couldn't fight or stop. J'onn had called back later saying that the generals that had spoken to weren't agreeing with the please stay out request, but they'd delay sending any presence for the moment. Just to be on the safe side and to make sure Danny didn't end up in any state home while his parents were in a military jail because they had stupidly bought and modified an Apache helicopter due to a government snafu, Raven had made all the wreckage of the Apache 'disappear' (Savior didn't ask where she put it), and the Titans had headed over to the Fenton house to get rid of all the evidence there as well. The Fentons couldn't interfere: Maddie Fenton had been taken to Amity Park's hospital and Jack and Jazz Fenton had gone there to make sure she was ok (Jack because he was certain Maddie would be infected by some ghost virus, and Jazz to make sure that her dad didn't do anything stupid). Savior had fed a cover story to the local police that they had swallowed, just a tad too easily for Savior's taste. But why had been quickly made apparent…

"And even more strangely, or maybe not so, the citizens of this fine town have all but vanished in the hours since this terrible and horrific attack! Despite the incredible fact that there has not yet been one recorded death…"

Savior hadn't believed it when he had checked in for a casualty report from the police three hours ago, and he still didn't believe it when he heard it coming from Chet Ubetcha's mouth. Sizzle had utterly ravaged Amity Park: how could there NOT be any deaths? But lo and behold, there wasn't. Oh sure, there were enough injuries to stuff the hospital to bursting, to the point where patients were being taken to other town's medical centers if their injuries were not serious (and that reminded Danny, the fact that Maddie Fenton hadn't suffered any apparent serious injuries would probably ensure that the Fentons would be returning home soon if they weren't home now, and Savior wondered if he would have to come up with an excuse for them as why their son wasn't there…), but it appeared that no one had died. True, that might yet change, but it was looking good. It appeared the gods of fortune had decided to drop down on the Earth for a vacation. Savior wondered if he should place some bets on the Cubs for the next World Series…

But even with that amazing fact, it hadn't changed one thing: the people of Amity Park knew something terrible had come to their town. In the way people denied what they saw because it did not, could not fit their idea of reality, they did not know exactly what…but they had enough surface evidence (hell, an Apache helicopter was pretty damn good when it came to excuses) to act anyway.

And what they had done was leave. In droves. In masses. It rather reminded Savior of the mysteries of how some people in the course of history had stumbled onto towns where all the occupants had suddenly, utterly vanished, even though evidence showed that they seemed to have been in the midst of doing such things as cooking and cleaning when they had suddenly disappeared (Croatian, anyone?). In this case, Savior knew where they had gone: out of town, their belongings packed and on/in the car as they got the hell out of Dodge (Savior had to give credit to whoever had designed Amity Park's streets and highways, there hadn't been a single traffic jam despite all the people leaving. Now THAT was effective roadsmanship…or maybe just more luck. Maybe he SHOULD place a bet on the Cubs, and maybe some more bets on whatever terrible sports team was humiliating itself last year to go all the way next time…). Maybe tomorrow, or the next day, they would think they were being foolish and come back…but for now, they were gone. Everyone. Well, maybe there was still a lone soul or two somewhere…but for the most part, Amity Park had become a literal ghost town. The only real place where there were still people was at the hospital, and as mentioned that was at the very edge of town. The rest was deserted. Even the police and other government people had left. Hell, even the CRIMINALS had skipped town, their deep primal instincts that something very bad was still to come overwhelming their common sense to stay put and loot Amity Park for the abandoned gold mine it was.

The town was empty. Completely. And that deeply bothered Savior, as to him, it meant that fate was winding up for something huge.

Then again, what could be bigger then the Paulina/Fenton-copter/Starfire battle?

Then AGAIN, Savior didn't want an answer to that. _Absit omen_, went a Latin phrase: May it not be an omen.

"So, in conclusion, Chet Ubetcha has only one thing to say: THIS TOWN IS CURSED! WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T COME HERE! IN FACT, I'M LEAVING RIGHT NOW!" Chet screamed, and then he ran off camera. It swiftly cut back to a confused anchorwoman.

"Well…I suppose you have your reasons Chet. In other news, a Catholic priest and a Jewish rabbi got into a fistfight on which God caused the miracle of there not being a single death in the attack on Amity Par-"

Savior turned the TV off.

"If anything, I say this supports my idea. Provided we verify it, there isn't anyone in this town that could be hurt or killed if the device goes seriously awry. A weapon that is supposed to suck up the air within a few dozen feet that accidentally does it for a few square miles doesn't really matter if there's nothing to harm in those miles. So, in regards to this information, I strongly suggest that we deploy the Oxygen Destroyer when Sizzle next shows up."

"What if she's in a host?" Raven asked.

"I already calculated that. If anything comes from that goddamn nerve pitch…how are you feeling Star?"

"I still feel ok Savior. For the fifth time, there don't appear to be any detrimental effects. Don't worry. You did what you had to, to protect Danny and yourself." Starfire said.

"All the same…Sizzle clearly can't handle intense pain in that vein, pardon the rhyme. And while my main reason for worry was that my actions could short circuit Starfire's alien nervous system in some way, I can say that that is not the case with a normal human, which Sizzle will most likely possess. So, if she is in a host, we will give her the runaround until I can get close enough to hook up to the human's nervous system and cause the necessary feedback…"

"WHU-WHU-WHAT?" Danny suddenly sputtered, and stood up. "You're going to cause a normal human agonizing pain?"

"If I have to." Savior replied.

"WHAT? After all that fuss over Starfire, you're…"

"Danny…" Savior said, cutting him off. "We don't have any other choice. It has already been demonstrated that you can't remove her, and with the Fenton Incapacitator destroyed, we have no other…"

"Yes you do! Knock the host out some other way!"

"DANNY." Savior said again. "The Fenton Incapacitator worked because Sizzle was not expecting it the first time and because you caught her by relative surprise the second time, due to the fact that she had expected you to be distracted by the then apparent and imminent disintegration of your friend Tucker…"

"You rang?" Tucker said, suddenly next to Savior.

Savior turned his eyes on the black teen. Tucker's enthusiasm faded under the hard gaze.

"Have you suddenly come into possession of any talents or information that would be of vital importance to our battle against Sizzle?" Savior asked, his tone edged with just a tad bit of harshness.

"Uh…no…but I brought cookies!" Tucker said, holding up a plate.

"…Thanks." Savior said, taking the plate of cookies and laying it down, Starfire immediately attacking it. "But young man, you must understand…this is a meeting for the people who will be fighting against Sizzle. If you can't contribute anything to that, I really can't have you hanging around. This is a war, not a club."

"But…"

"Tucker…" Savior said, his voice firm. "Please."

"………..All right." Tucker said, sounding disappointed. "I'll get out of your hair."

"Thank you." Savior said, as Tucker dejectedly left the room. "As I was saying Danny, your friend Tucker escaped death because your girl, er, just a friend Sam shoved him aside and took the blast of flame for him. She wasn't hurt because of Sizzle's flame's nature to not hurt females unless she consciously wills it. That let you get the second shot in. The fact that the Incapacitator was destroyed aside…Sizzle has clearly demonstrated that she can adapt. Had she seen it coming, the Fenton Incapacitator might not have worked at all the second time. By that possibility, the attempt to knock a host out via blows to the cranium might not work. Even an attempt to connect to the host and induce a state of unconsciousness might not prove efficient, at least not enough to avoid a possible immolation while the attempt is being made. No…I think the inducement of immense pain would prove to be the most beneficial route."

"But what if she resists the pain like she could resist the unconsciousness?"

"She won't."

"How do you know?"

"People can fight against passing out. That can happen. But people can't shut their nervous systems off. And Sizzle can't control her host without being hooked up to the nervous system. With a human nervous system, I can cause immense pain without any permanent or even temporary damage, and Sizzle's forced expulsion will wipe the mind of the host and make her forget anything that occurred. Besides the several seconds of immense agony the host will experience at the time, I do not see a downside to this course of action."

"But…it's wrong!"

Savior did not reply to this: he just gave Danny another one of his looks, the look that suggested that Danny was acting like a fool and it would probably serve him best if he stopped, and Danny didn't want to listen, but the gaze was just so CONVINCING, and Danny felt himself wilting under it again, much like Tucker had.

"Child…in this life…sometimes right and wrong are relative. But if anyone has anything against this plan, feel free to speak up now. I will not blame you if you have reservations from a moral standpoint, but as Henry Adams said, 'morality is a private and costly luxury', and I say that certainly applies here. Anyone disagree?"

Danny looked around for support. Starfire looked saddened but determined, Cyborg looked resigned, and Raven looked fairly grim. And he realized that none of them were going to speak up on his behalf.

And then again…he hadn't really expected them to. After all, Savior was their leader. And leaders had to lead. Even if they had to trample on some people in the process.

"Ok then. Anything else to say Danny?" Savior asked.

"No…..nothing…" Danny said quietly.

"Ok then…as of now this is the plan. Sizzle said that next time it ends, so we can assume she will come at us with both barrels blazing. When she does, and if she is not in a host, we prevent her from getting to one. Raven, you think you can whip up a spell that will prevent her from repossessing you and Star?"

"I believe that is possible." Raven said.

"All right…we stop her from getting a host. If she already has a host, we get her out of it via my outlined plan, or if other means become available. Once she is out, we throw the Oxygen Destroyer at her and hope for the best. Even if it goes wrong, it will suck up all the gases in the area and eliminate them, Sizzle included, and let's hope her sentience vanishes along with her body. Cyborg, if things go wrong, your body can temporarily store oxygen and feed it directly into your organic parts. You'll stay close and turn off the machine, smash it if you have to. But in the end, the thing that matters is that we deal with Sizzle as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Which brings up my final point." Savior said, and turned to Danny. "Danny, have you yet recovered from the battle this afternoon?"

"What?"

"Can you go ghost again yet?"

"Uh…I'll try…" Danny said, as he stood up. "I'm goin' ghost."

And…nothing happened. Under the gaze of the four Titans, Danny suddenly felt a crazy desire to break into a little dance, his own little Ashley Simpson SNL performance.

"Right, I figured. You utterly exhausted yourself in the previous battle, and I don't blame you Danny." Savior said. It was meant as a compliment, but instead it just made Danny feel worse, as he sat down again. "But if you can't access your powers…I'm afraid you're a liability Danny. Therefore, I suggest you stay out of the coming battle."

"What?" Danny said, as he found his righteous offence again, or at least he thought so. "You're kicking me out of the plan?"

"I'm trying to keep you SAFE Danny. Sizzle is fixated on YOU. You could barely handle her WITH powers, I don't want to think of what would happen to you without them."

"But she might not attack for days! Surely I'll be recovered then!"

"Maybe, and if that is the case the plan will be reassessed. But for now, you're nothing but a hotdog on a stick to her. Hell, you might stay that way for the rest of your life: do you have any idea if your powers have a set limit on how they replenish themselves or have you always assumed they'd come back every time you burned yourself out?"

"I, uh, but, I…well…I…uh…buh…"

"Exactly. You might just be normal Danny Fenton again kid. If you want to enjoy that, you'll keep out of our way. Hell, even IF you get your powers back in the very near future…you might want to keep out of our way anyway."

"WHAT? No! If I get my powers back I want to fight!"

"And if you get them back, charge into battle, and find them konking out after thirty seconds, then where will you be?" Savior asked.

Danny opened his mouth and found he had no words.

"Exactly. Kid, you did well out there…but that was then. This is now. This is the big one, and you're out of gas. Kid…I don't want you or your friends to be harmed by this fight. Sizzle's OUR enemy, we should be the ones to deal with her…and at the moment…you'd just be in the way. I'm sorry Danny, but this is for the best. Trust me."

Danny sat down again. He didn't think it was possible, but he somehow felt even worse.

"Ok then. Final wrap up. Cyborg, you go fetch the Oxygen Destroyer and all the other special gear we brought. Prime the gear and then see if you can do any last second debugging on the Oxygen Destroyer. You never know, sometimes the thing that helps the most to solve problems is pressure."

"Yeah, you try doing it." Cyborg half joked, half grumped.

"I'm doing it now." Savior replied. "Raven, you find and cast that spell that will protect you and Star. You brought a bunch of your books, right?"

"Right."

"Ok then, once that spell is cast, hit them. See if you can find anything, anything at all, that might let us bind or hold Sizzle in a more permanent way then the Ghost Zone. Starfire, you're sure you're ok?"

"YES NOEL." Starfire blurted out.

Silence.

"Oops." Starfire said, realizing what she had done in her irritation.

"Your name is Noel?" Danny asked.

"Ah fuck." Savior cursed, and then thrust out his hand. The Shimmer sprang out, so quickly Danny never even knew what had happened: he felt a sudden pressure in his ear and then a faint dizziness, and then he blinked as he felt a sudden sense of vertigo.

"There." Savior said as he pulled the Shimmer back. Danny blinked, utterly confused.

"What just happened and…hey!" Danny said, as he tried to access what he had just seen and found a complete blank. "What did you do!"

"You heard some sensitive information, so I hacked into your mind and erased the last ten seconds of your short term memory."

"WHAT!"

"It's for the best kid."

"YOU SCREWED WITH MY BRAIN! WHAT IF YOU CAUSED PERMANENT DAMAGE!"

"I didn't."

"BUT YOU…"

"DANNY." Savior snapped. "Trust me, possessing the information you just heard could bring you MORE HARM THEN SIZZLE. BELIEVE ME, YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ME."

"But…but…" Danny said, but Savior was already ignoring him, turning back to Starfire.

"Star, be careful."

"Yes…I am sorry…Savior." Starfire said, though she looked a tad bit cross at what Savior had just pulled. Cyborg and Raven had the same look. Savior ignored it. He didn't need Danny finding out his real name and risking the chance his father could trace him. Ignorance was bliss in this case, for Danny AND Noel.

"As I was saying, if you're certain you're ok, I'd appreciate it if you can do a sweep around Amity Park. Make sure it really is deserted."

"All right."

"And Danny…just try and keep yourself safe, ok? Meeting adjourned." Savior said.

Danny could only stare as the Titans got up and started. He couldn't believe it. This whole meeting had been one big case of surrealism to him. These people, the Titans, HEROES…and here they were agreeing to use an incomplete device to destroy their foe, DESTROY her, all chances for redemption gone, and willing to cause immense pain to a human being to accomplish this under ends justified the means philosophy, and his brain, he'd heard something and Savior had just reached out and snatched it back, like he wasn't even going to TRY trusting him with whatever he had heard…the roil of emotions in his chest was just getting stronger and stronger, all kinds mixing together so he could no longer tell if he was upset or outraged or saddened or humiliated or shamed or enraged or anything, but he knew he couldn't just sit here and say nothing, as Savior was still at the table, opening up his communicator, and Danny opened his mouth…and found that all the words were getting jumbled together into an incomprehensible mess and he had no idea what to say so much emotion and he knew but he didn't and he had to say something anything SOMETHING…

"…but we're the good guys." Danny blurted.

Savior looked up.

"Excuse me Danny?"

"But…Savior…why…I mean…we're the good guys…we're…supposed to be on heaven's side…the side of the angels…why are…we…doing this…" Danny babbled and stammered.

Savior gave him a wry look.

"Having another crisis of faith?"

"I…I…."

"Danny…" Savior said, like he was talking to a small child. "I don't know if heaven exists or not, and I'm not really in the mood to argue theological matters. But there's a quote by Mark Twain I'll paraphrase for you. 'Heaven goes by favour. If it went by merit, you and I would stay out and our DOGS would get in.'"

"But…we're superheroes. Both of us. We should be mutually collieing…uh, currying, ah…"

"Collaborating?"

"Yeah, we should be doing that! Working together! Not…like…I mean…you're smart…but…you and I…we shouldn't have to agree to disagree…we're the same…"

The wry look was gone. The serious one was back.

"I mean…I…" Danny stammered.

"Danny." Savior said calmly. "Let me try and put this to you as best I can. We may both be champagne. Hell, we might be the same kind of champagne. But I am in a long necked crystal champagne flute, and you are in a Flintstone Jelly Glass. Now, you can drink champagne out of either, and it might very well taste the same, but believe me…there is a difference."

And to this…Danny found he had no reply.

"Now…will you please listen to me?"

"……………Ok."

"Good boy. Now take care of yourself, and if you exhale some burning gas, yell your head off. We'll be there." Savior said.

In a daze, Danny got up and left the room, as Savior pressed buttons on his communicator. Danny left the dining room the Titans had been in and made his way into the kitchen, where Tucker and Sam were.

"Danny!" Sam said, immediately knowing something was wrong. Danny looked like he was in a trance. And while Sam had listened at the door after Tucker had come back in and complained that he was never going to get any autographs with "that jerk Savior" holding court, it was a thick door and she couldn't make any details out, only hearing occasional words. By those words, she hadn't been able to fully tell what was going on, but she'd had suspicions.

But even she hadn't been prepared for what she saw when Danny came in. It was almost like the time Tucker had attempted to explain an immensely complicated computer system to Danny; it had also caused that semi-vacant stare in Danny's eyes that indicated that the lights were on but no one was really home. But that time, it had been comical. Here, it was horrifying, as if Danny had been given some dark secret of the universe that no human could have ever handled.

"Danny! What happened in there?" Sam said, as she leapt up from her chair, her planned act to play innocent considering that if Danny had entered the room a second earlier he would have knocked her over immediately forgotten. "Danny? Are you ok?"

"Oh…yeah Sam. I'm ok. Savior's making sure I'll be ok. He knows what he's doing." Danny said. While Tucker just heard a slightly dazed tone, Sam heard something else, something faint that she managed to pick up on. There was a taint of despair in Danny's voice…but…that made no sense…

"What do you mean?" Sam said as she led Danny to a chair. Danny sat down.

"Well…we talked it over…and they figured that because my powers aren't working at the moment it would be best to cut me out of the battle entirely."

"WHAT?" Sam and Tucker yelled at the same time.

"What? They shouldn't do that! You're the Halfa! You've been given special gifts that help you fight ghosts! Sizzle is a ghost! Why would they not want you around? Your powers will be back soon!" Tucker said.

"Yeah…but Savior…he said that I really don't know my powers. And I don't. I was just too busy…trying to have a life. You know, go to school, get passing grades, try and get a girlfriend…and try to help out when I could. But apparently that kept me from ever really learning how well I could use my powers, and now I'm groping around in the dark. With Sizzle…that could get me killed. Savior suggested that for now, I just keep my head down." Danny said.

Sam hadn't spoken because she was too busy digesting Danny's words, and they filled her with even greater horror.

"Danny…no. You're…you're Danny Phantom. You BELONG out there. You HAVE to be out there." Sam said.

"Sam…Savior knows best. He's…a pro at this. I'm…just a dumb rookie." Danny said. "Can I have some juice?"

Sam just stared in horror, not believing what had happened. This was worse then anything she had ever seen yet, and she had been privy to some things even Tucker had not seen, moments where Danny was down, where he wanted to quit, where he loathed himself for what he had become and how he simply could not shirk this damn responsibility that caused him so much grief…but underneath all that had been the strength Sam knew Danny possessed, a strength she knew would see him through, no matter what.

But not this time. This wasn't some teenage regret or angst. What had happened in that room had seemingly shattered Danny's entire sense of self, the strength that had carried him through torn up by the roots, pureed, and presented to him as a shapeless paste "because it was what was best for him". Everything that Danny was, everything that was so special about him, all the things that her care so deeply about him…tossed aside, judged, dismissed, and ground underfoot. Not what was wanted, therefore not wanted at all.

And for what?

To keep him safe, perhaps, but was that the true goal? There are ways to keep people safe other then locking them in a box and throwing away the key. There are ways to help people…and this wasn't one of them.

This wasn't about safety. This was about control.

And she knew exactly who had caused it. That white haired so called Savior, his name now truly seeming pretentious, denying he was a neo-con when he was acting exactly like one, a real manifestation of the effigies that Sam burned with those who thought like her, and he done it to Danny, done this to Danny because he had to keep everything under control on his board, writing off each time Danny had saved his life or tried to help as childish sillyness, because everything had to go this way, everyone had to listen, because they always knew what was best, always…

The anger awoke in Sam, hot and jagged, a feeling she was not used to but knew instinctively how to use, as she stood up, somehow keeping her face calm, as she went and got some orange juice for Danny, politely saying she would be right back, and went out another door from the kitchen, trying briefly to think if there was another way and swiftly deciding that no, this was the right way, the needed way, as she walked to another door and shoved it open, firmly but relatively quietly. The dining room was empty, but the next room, a comfortable lounge, was not

Savior was finishing off his communicator as he heard the door open, and he turned around to see Sam striding towards him. Had he turned around earlier, he might have gotten an idea about what was coming, but he had been busy and by the time he turned she was relatively close to him.

"Miss Manson." Savior said. "Can I…"

Sam's hand lashed out, the slap ringing through the whole room, smacking Savior's head to the side as effectively as any punch that had been thrown his way.

"HOW DARE YOU." Sam snarled. "Look at you. Look at you! You and your costume, clothing yourself in white…I've never seen such sickening hypocrisy in my life! Is it to hide the rot within? You, with your fancy jacket and crazy hair and official communicator…you have no idea what power your image has, does it? People look up to you! They listen to you! And you're so blind to it you don't have a single damn clue about what you're doing, and even if you did, I DOUBT YOU EVEN CARE!"

Savior had, by now, turned his head back to face Sam, but he kept his expression blank, as she stood up right before him, nearly pressing her body against his, her finger in his face and her voice filled with righteous rage.

"But then, why would you? After all, you're safe, cloaked in your title and your reputation. Thinking that everyone can be dismissed because they're not you. Thinking that everything should go as you see fit or else lose any value whatsoever. You claim you're not a neo con, you're right, you're not. YOU'RE A FASCIST! YOU'RE A GODDAMN NAZI!"

Still no answer, and that just made Sam angrier.

"Do you have ANY idea how special that boy is in there?" Sam said, pointing. "Do you have any idea what he's endured? What kind of questions he has to wrestle with? You ever think because he's not on a team and hasn't devoted his life to justice that he deserves absolutely no consideration whatsoever? You think because you've seen more and done more you're better? You like to quote? Here's a quote for you, you bastard: Malcolm X! 'You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or who says it!' And while I suppose it's not patriotism that drives you, you and so many so called recent examples of it are EXACTLY the same." Sam growled. "You say you speak for freedom and yet you grind any of it underfoot if it clashes with what you want. You claim that no one defines reality and then you turn around and try and do it. You press on, acting like no others are there, plugging your ears, only knowing what you want to know, and you're not doing it now, you're not doing it to Danny, I don't care if you want to keep him alive or not, he doesn't deserve it, and he doesn't deserve your scorn, your condensation, your outright hypocrisy, he doesn't deserve it, he's a hero, a real hero and you're just a corrupted facsimile of one, and how dare you HOW DARE YOU!" Sam screamed, as she drew back her hand for another blow.

Savior caught it this time.

Sam tried to pull away and found she could not. While the grip was not painful, it was absolute, like iron.

"You only get one free shot. That was it." Savior said.

Sam attempted to strike with her other hand: Savior grabbed it and transferred both hands to his grip before she even knew what had happened. Now he was holding both her arms above her head, leaving her completely exposed.

Despite what followed, Sam never thought she was in any physical danger. She knew Savior wasn't going to actually hit her or anything in that vein. Despite how little she thought of him, she knew he wasn't the type of dull witted brute who just smacked a woman when she got lippy. No…he had something else in mind.

And in the end, it might have been worse.

"Malcolm X said something else too." Savior said quietly, seemingly not even noticing that Sam was trying to pull free; the only reason she wasn't kicking him was because she knew he'd pull out that Shimmer power of his and keep her away from him. "'I believe in the brotherhood of man, all men, but I don't believe in brotherhood with anybody who doesn't want brotherhood with me. I believe in treating people right, but I'm not going to waste my time trying to treat somebody right who doesn't know how to return that treatment.' I knew from the beginning that you and I didn't share the same views Sam. I was accepting of that. I tried to be tactful, to be a gentlemen…but that's the thing about the people like you Sam. You assume that because we don't speak, we have nothing to say, so you do all the talking, fill the air with it. For another paraphrased quote, 'You lack the power of conversation but not the power of speech.' George Bernard Shaw. But you have made it abundantly clear that politeness does not matter, that one shall speak one's mind. Ok then young lady. You want to hear my mind, you GOT IT." Savior said, as his expression changed. Sam had been busy trying to get free from his grip, and had only been listening half-heartedly. Having realized that escaping was unlikely, she had aggravatingly swallowed her pride and decided she had best start screaming…and then she saw his face, and everything was forgotten to her.

What was in his face wasn't rage, or hatred. But it was something fierce and powerful, and while, as mentioned, Sam did not feel physically threatened or in any danger of being hurt…the look froze her. She had never had that happen to her…but she was young. Smart, determined, zealous…but young.

And sometimes…that lone factor can become an absolute.

"You speak of how I think. Well let me tell you a little story of how YOUR kind thinks. It's about a little war, a black mark on the heart of a country. Happened in a place called Vietnam. Big mess. Terrible terrain, merciless enemy with sadistic, sick hearts, poor boys plucked from their homes and given only the bare bones of training and then thrust into a situation that would have destroyed even the most hardened soldier…but the thing that really, really pisses me off were the people who weren't even involved in the war. The ones back home who said it was wrong and that it should be stopped. Your kind." Savior said. "Let me tell you about your kind. Sure, you were allowed to say it. It's a free country, say what you will. You could have your marches and your sit ins and put flowers in guns. Fine, I can live with that. What I cannot live with, what irritates me so much, is something that you don't understand to this day. You did not attempt to UNDERSTAND. All you did is DISTORT AND PROJECT. You speak to ME of distorting things until it only fits my views, you are the CHAMPIONS of that. And you take your distortions, and you project them onto everybody, saying how it is shared all over the world and that everyone would be happy if it was just listened to. And in these twin things you show a lack of intelligence and understanding so deep and destructive that it makes me SICK. You ranted on and on and on on how the war was evil, and illegal, and terrible, and then you turned around and spat on the soldiers coming home and called them baby killers. You yelled for years for the leaders of the country to get out of Vietnam, never understand that Vietnam was a linchpin to the very thing that LET you say such things without being jailed, tortured, executed, and buried in mass graves. You NEVER looked at the big picture, how Vietnam was just part of a larger plan to try and keep the Soviet Union, then believed to be a terrible evil power that could easily conquer and destroy the world, contained. And most of all, and this is what burns me the most, you yelled for so long that people eventually listened to you and took all the troops out…which gave nearby Cambodia confidence that no one would interfere with them, not after so many of the United States' own people told them not to, and they initiated the Killing Fields, a genocide that claimed at LEAST a million lives, at LEAST, more then TWICE of all the combat deaths of Vietnam! Now I will admit it was a mess, that Vietnam should be remembered for several reasons, but the one you never remember, and never accept, is that sometimes for the greater good sacrifices have to be made. I know how hard it is to accept that when young American boys are being butchered or coming back insane…but in the end, it was part of a larger strategic plan, a plan you never understood. You never could see the forest for the trees! And it caused a mass murder in Cambodia that left the Vietnam kill count in the dust. So lay the blood of those poor American boys and Vietnamese babies on 'our' hands, if you will, but I lay EVERY SINGLE DEATH IN CAMBODIA ON YOURS!"

"You…" Sam tried to speak.

"SHUT UP. You're not going to talk for once. You're going to listen. Let's tell another tale. How about the people who were supporting Marxism and Communism during the Cold War, saying how the Soviet Union was misunderstood and how they dearly wanted peace but the big bad United States couldn't stop their pissing contest to give it to them, never mind that the Soviet Union was slaughtering and starving millions while they stayed in their safe, free country and spoke of matters they could never understand. Or how about forcing social reforms on all the Southern states, states that were very set in their ways and needed very careful teaching, not a hammer. The truths of the social reforms are moot, what matters is that they were not READY for change and yet you FORCED them to change. The South used to be completely Democratic, you know. Your actions switched their side. There's a certain irony in that, I suppose: in your attempts to do misguided good with your power you assured that you may never be able to claim such power for a long while."

"You…"

"Quiet miss. Oh, I know. One of my favorites. Hitler defeating France and kicking the British army out, and then coming to Churchill with a peace offer. Churchill refused it. Hitler said Churchill was for war and against peace. I bet that if your kind had existed in that England in large numbers, you would have battered Churchill down until he accepted it, or just removed him entirely and put in someone who shared your views that everything would be all right if you just tried to get along with everybody. And the looks on their faces ten years later when Hitler had built up his navy and marched across the sea to completely crush Britain, their tanks grinding over their bodies when they screamed that there was supposed to be peace. Churchill understood something your kind never does, miss. PEACE HAS A PRICE. And for him, it was too high. You would have never seen that. You never do. You live in the here and now, in a world of abstract righteousness where everyone will be ok just as soon as we've fixed all these sins, past and present. Never mind that you can't change the past and it's not right to blame those in the present for the past's sins, but hey, that never stops you! You think that everything is best when no one boos for any reason when a person walks down a street. Well miss, something your kind never grasps is that no one boos a CABBAGE when it walks down the street EITHER!"

Sam finally knew what that look was, the look that kept her from trying to get free. It was a look of utter, blistering CONTEMPT. And despite her anger at what Savior had done to Danny, at her rage towards his actions…she felt it starting to burrow through her defenses, starting to chip away at her ideals and beliefs, not because she heard a strong ring of truth in his voice, but because it was so powerful, so fierce, so determined…and so old.

It was horrifying in a sense, that a young man could speak with a voice so aged…a tragedy…and yet…so inevitable.

There was another voice too, speaking in the back of Noel's head, telling him that he was going too far, that he had gone past the need to be firm and was in the territory of being outright nasty, but the larger part of him shouted it down, because he was sick of it all, sick of the people who yelled at him for what he did without ever realizing that the only reason they were alive to do such a thing was because of him, and he had everything planned here, and he was going to carry the plan out, keep everyone safe, give them the life liberty and opportunity for happiness that they were promised and he wasn't letting ANYTHING stand in the way of that, especially not this stupid teenage girl who thought she knew life when all she knew was what someone had shit in her brain and forgot to flush…

"You are an idealist Miss Manson. You all are. Do you know what an idealist is, according to H.L Mencken? An idealist is one who, on noticing that rose smells better then a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup. You are people who think in abstracts that do not match up to reality, abstracts you then try and force on everything, believing that it is the commonly held belief of the world, they just haven't realized it. And then you pat yourself on the back and tell yourself you've done well, you've made it better, you've righted past wrongs, and you move on. And then…I have to come in. Me and all MY kind. And we have to clean up YOUR MESSES. The messes you made because you thought your idea was oh so great and were so assured everyone shared, WHEN THEY DIDN'T! All ideas have four stages, Miss Manson. First they are mocked, then they are violently opposed, then they are accepted as self evident, and then they are made TO DO TOO MUCH WORK. Do you know who always initiates the forth step? Do you? DO YOU? DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE? YOU ARE A WORLDWIDE CADRE OF SHIT DISTURBERS! AND WE HAVE TO BE THE ONES TO MAKE SURE YOU DON'T WAKE UP ONE DAY AND FIND THAT THE BARBARIANS ARE AT THE GATE RAPING YOUR WIFE AND EATING YOUR CHILDREN!" Savior snarled/screamed. By now he had leaned so close to Sam their faces were almost touching, and Sam was trying to get back, and trying to find the right words, the words to show him how wrong he was the words that would crush him for what he had done but there was nothing there and everything was crumbling and she knew she wasn't like this she was strong she was tough but she was also young just a girl and it was crashing down and she could feel it stabbing at her and dammit she could feel herself on the verge of tears and she couldn't be she was strong and sometimes that didn't matter a bit because for every strength there's a greater one and this one was about to grind her underfoot and she wanted to fight not cry she would not cry but she no not cry no tears…

"So let me tell you how it is GOING to go, MISS MANSON. You are going to sit down, and you are going to SHUT UP, and you are going to STAY that way until we have managed to save the day and deal with Sizzle by fair means or foul because against something like her, a hug isn't going to work. I am going to keep your boyfriend alive, I am going to keep everyone you care about alive, and I am going to do it because it is what I do, what I have trained myself to do, what I live and may one day DIE to do, and believe me little girl I won't ever be faltering because of your bullshit nonsense. So you march back out that door, and you get the hell out of my hair, and you let the ADULTS and the REAL PEOPLE in this world do their jobs, and above all else don't you ever DARE tell me how to live my life BECAUSE YOU NEVER HAVE AND NEVER WILL EARN THE RIGHT TO DO SO!"

A small sob escaped Sam's throat.

And the hand grabbed Savior's shoulder, whirling him around, Savior automatically releasing the grip on Sam's hands, as Danny belted him across the face as hard as he could.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Danny bellowed, as Savior's head snapped back again, as Sam, free of his grip, found her legs losing their strength as she leaned back and found a wall behind her, resting against it as Savior turned his face back to Danny.

"You DON'T want to fight me kid." Savior said. His eyes had gone past contempt, they had gone all the way to dangerous, the same look that had shone out from Savior's eyes when he had faced some of his most cruel and sadistic foes...and the fact that such eyes were being shown to Danny did not make him back off, did not strike at him like they used to, no, because when Danny had walked in and stared in shock for a few seconds as Savior bit Sam's metaphorical head off he finally found the right words that he had not been able to find.

No, the fact that Savior was now looking at Danny like he was an enemy…that just gave him the strength to go on.

"No. You're right Savior. I don't want to fight you. Because this situation is not about you, and quite frankly it's a shame that you've decided it is!"

Savior had been expecting many answers: that had not been one of them.

"…….What?" He said, as the look faded just a bit, and in that Danny finally realized something: that despite his experience and skill and brain and almost malignant ability to worm into your head and make you think that everything you knew was wrong…Savior was just as human as him. And that gave him what he needed to go on.

"You heard me. This situation is not about you Savior. It's not about how your plans are being messed with, or that your opinions are the right ones, or even the fact that your leadership is not absolute. And it is damn sure not about what you lost a long time, things that you are quite determined to stomp out in me so that NO ONE will have them!"

"What? I…"

"No no, YOU listen now. Is this a superhero? The equivalent of a mass market CD, a glossy package with nothing left inside? A bitter, cynical jerk that can't stand the fact that those around him might have the things he once had? Someone who is willing to go so far for such pitiful gains? You said innocence was a liability Savior, well, there's a difference between a liability and a need to be eliminated. Just because I don't think like you do, does not mean I have to be beaten down until I do think like that, and just because my friends try and support me doesn't mean you have to tear out their support by the roots because they'll impede my so called need to become like you! But that's the thing Savior: I'm NOT LIKE YOU. And I DON'T WANT TO BE. I don't care how much of a tactical advantage being dead inside will give me, I don't care if you think the fact that I haven't given up on the people I serve makes me weak and foolish, I don't care that I still have some of the light inside that was snuffed out from your being a long time ago, light you see as a weakness and yet something you wish you still had and from that something you RESENT me for having. But that does not give you the right to TRY AND DESTROY IT. Really…shame on you."

"But…"

"You like to toss out quotes Savior. Here's one for you. I might not read philosophy books but I read Dear Abby, so here's a bit of wisdom from Abigail Van Buren that I don't need all your great thinkers and writers for. 'The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back.' If we define the world by that, you fail Savior. And fail terribly. And that makes me so sad I can't even find the will to stay angry at you."

Savior opened his mouth…and found, just like Danny, that nothing was coming out except stuttering nonsense. He couldn't believe it…how could this rookie go around all his experience and will and reduce him to this, it should have been impossible…

…Except he was right.

"No. Don't say anything. You don't have anything left to say that I need." Danny said. "I will say the last word here. You spoke of how I was too young, too green, to claim Amity Park as my own. Well, screw you. I'm planting my flag. This is MY TOWN. MY TURF. And while Sizzle was once your enemy, she is now MY enemy. And I will stand, and I will fight her, and I will do my damndest to save the day, because THAT'S WHAT HEROES DO. And if you haven't forgotten that Savior, well, I'd be glad to have you by my side, and I'd be glad to be by yours. But know this. This is not something you can talk around, or change, or fix, or alter, or anything. This is MY battle too, and my LIFE. This is my YARD, AND MY WORLD. So like they say about the States, you can do one of two things. LOVE IT, OR LEAVE IT!" Danny yelled, pointing out the window.

Savior stared, utterly flabbergasted, and then he opened his mouth again…

And found nothing at all.

Danny walked around Savior, to Sam, who still looked highly upset.

"C'mon Sam." Danny said, as he slipped her arm under his shoulder and carried her like she was wounded. "It's ok. Things will be ok now." Danny said, as he helped Sam out of the room.

Savior watched them go, and once they were gone, he closed his mouth…then opened it again…then closed it…then opened it as he raised his finger…then closed it…

And then he found himself staring at his hand. Both of them.

His legs weren't working well suddenly. He needed a seat. He stumbled over and found one, sitting down, and found himself staring after where Danny and Sam had gone.

And then, he let out a long, mournful sigh, and looked down at the ground, down at the dirt, where in the end was where he had ended up.

And the worst part was…in the end he belonged there.

_See, Told You. To Be Continued._


	14. Incineration: She Was Horrid

Chapter 14: She Was Horrid

"For every evil under the sun,  
There is a remedy, or there is none;  
If there be one, try and find it,  
If there be none, never mind it."

-W. C. Hazlitt, _English Proverbs_

You ever have a term that you dearly want to remember, but never could when you needed it?

That was what Danny was trying to do right now. There was a double irony considering what the term was. It was originally in French, and that was the term Danny couldn't remember, but he could remember what the English translation of the term was: "Spirit of the Stairs". A strange idiom, but it made sense when you knew what it applied to: that moment after an argument, perhaps five or ten minutes after its conclusion, a conclusion which you found dissatisfying, where you thought of the perfect retort or comeback to a phrase or bit of knowledge that your opponent had pulled out, a phrase that had either turned the argument to your opponent's favor or pretty much crushed you right then and there. The Spirit of the Stairs was a perfect rejoinder that was now worthless to you because the argument was done.

Danny was having a moment like that at the, well, moment, as he helped Sam out of the living room. Not in regards to the argument, because he had actually managed to say everything he wanted there. No, his "spirit of the stairs" problem was that he wanted to say something to Sam now…and he had absolutely no idea what. What did you say to someone like Sam, who was so strong in mind, after someone who had an equally strong mind and a burning desire to crush the spirit of rebellion that lurked within her had basically dissected her? A spirit that nearly HAD been crushed, that was the hard part. If Sam had stayed strong in the face of Savior's invective, this might have been easier, but she had been on the verge of breaking down entirely, like a child who had been brutally teased by older peers. People like Sam thought that couldn't happen to them…and when it did, they tended to deny it and anyone who had tried to help them when their own strengths had not been enough. Hell, they could get quite angry with their rescuers, seeing their need to be rescued as weakness and resenting it and the person who had reminded them of said weakness by helping in the first place…

Yes, indeed, Danny was quite confused on what to say to Sam now, considering the utter mess she might be inside, as he stopped and let her go, Sam finally finding her feet again. Should he just open his mouth and see what came out? Should he say anything? Maybe he should commiserate with her on how much of an asshole Savior was…

In the end, Danny didn't have to do anything: Sam did it all, as she turned slightly and hugged Danny so fiercely it almost drove all the wind out of him.

"Thank you." Sam whispered, trying to blink back one final set of tears and not quite succeeding. She'd been wrong about Danny. He hadn't been chewed up, spit out, and given up, he'd just been down again, before his amazing strength had once again lifted him up, lifted him higher then even she realized, and knowing that perhaps he had been able to hit that peak because of her…

She didn't want to name it, the deep rumblings of emotion that were within her, growing stronger as she hugged him. Somehow, naming it would make it official, and despite that in a way that would be wonderful, Sam was too young and too uncertain on what she wanted to do with her life to have something so…strong in it. She had to keep it down for now, assess it, see if it fit into her goals…even though a small part of her was telling her to just throw it all to the wind and do what part of her so desperately wanted to do…

….No…not yet.

Maybe someday.

But not yet.

That someday might have been more concrete, had Sam known that Danny was experiencing almost a mirror version of what Sam had been feeling when she had grabbed him so tightly. However, his thought process wasn't so refined, so he was a lot more confused at the strangeness he felt in his heart, his head, and (though he'd never speak of it, hell he'd never admit it to himself) his testes. This roiling murk in his being caused him to stand still for a few seconds before he reached up and returned the hug, slightly, much like Starfire had when he had hugged her…

"Uh…yeah…you're welcome Sam…you're welcome…" Danny said.

Sam pulled back, and her eyes, glistening with tears and yet shining with something, something Danny couldn't nail down but was wonderful and scary all the same time…Danny wanted to say something, except his tongue had seemingly swelled until it filled his entire mouth, and so he just stared, as they looked at each other for a bit…in what some people call a real 'moment'.

Then reality inserted itself back into their world, as Sam came back to the senses that had first been washed away by Savior's fierce personality and then with gratitude towards Danny, as she suddenly blushed lightly and wiped at her eyes.

"…I must look a mess…" Sam said. "I'd…better go to the ladies room and tidy up."

"…Yeah. That might be good." Danny replied. Sam nodded lightly, and then turned and walked away. When their eye link was broken, Danny finally came back to the world he knew.

"Whooo." Danny said, feeling his face flush and not certain why it was doing so. "What was that? That was…intense."

Danny blinked, and then he put the way he was feeling back in a box as he recalled the more unpleasant part of what had just happened. He'd just told Savior off, and while it had seemed at the time that he had won that fight, Savior might yet win the war. He could very well decide to just pull the Titans out of Amity Park, effectively throwing Danny to the wolves if his powers didn't come back soon. And while Danny didn't think Savior was that juvenile (a jerk, yes, but he was a mature jerk), he wouldn't put it fully past him. No one likes losing an argument, especially one where he had been out-spoken by someone several years his junior…where the junior had been right. Even the best of us can throw temper tantrums and take their balls and go home.

But if that was going to happen…Danny was going to make sure the other Titans knew it: that they were leaving not because of any possible tactical advantage but because Savior didn't want to play any more. And if it came to a head over that…Danny was certain that the more likely scenario from the other Titans would be mutiny, not blind obedience. The Titans might be good soldiers, but they weren't thoughtless drones.

So Danny walked off, planning to speak to Cyborg first. If they had to strip Savior of command, Danny was certain the teen machine would be the one to assume it…unless, for some reason they wanted Danny to do so.

That thought daunted Danny: he could barely handle himself, could he actually lead a team?

Danny didn't know.

But he would try if he had to.

And if he could…he'd avoid making the same error Savior had made, mistaking leadership for micromanagement.

At least, he hoped he could.

* * *

Danny needn't have worried about a possible immature reaction to what had just happened at the climax of the Danny/Sam/Savior argument. Savior was not the type to place his faults at others' doors. Instead, he tended to brood on them, deeply, and that was what he was doing now, as he sat there on the couch, his arms laying on his thighs, as he stared at the area before him, his eyes pondering, reflective, melancholy. 

"How long have you been there?" He asked.

"He's right you know." Came the reply, as Raven appeared from the shadows, setting herself down lightly. She carried several large books with her via her dark power, floating nearby. "Just because you see that he still looks at the world with bright eyes and how you believe it would be better to have that brightness extinguished for the sake of survival…even if that might be true in this hard world of ours…that does not give you the right to browbeat him with your know-how until he's willing to do whatever you think is right. I accepted your terms without complaint because I believed that the beneficial qualities of your experience and your mind would overwhelm your failings. I have to wonder if I was correct to take that chance." Raven said, as she walked in front of Savior. He looked up at her, but he found no pity or sympathy in her eyes. Just the harsh slant of someone who had decided to lay it down.

"What you did with Sam was almost inexcusable." Raven said. Her voice was not angry, but she didn't need it to be. "I knew that you two aren't the type to get along. You're both smart and strong willed, and on the opposite of the fence when it comes to thinking. Hell, maybe you're even right Noel. But just because she hasn't spelled the stench of dead bodies and listened to the screams of the dying doesn't mean her views are that of a foolish young idealist and hence without any merit whatsoever. She's young, Noel. There is a bit of polishing yet left for life to do to her. I'd like to hope she has the qualities to keep that inevitability from scarring her, or making her bitter. But that…what you did…politics or no politics, right or wrong, whatever it may be and how you feel aside, what happened…I'd like to think you had it under some control Noel. I'd like to think you were just having a bad day. But it was still unpardonable, and if you had gone one more centimeter in the direction you were going Danny wouldn't have needed to come in, because I would have kicked your ass myself and thrown you off the team. I love you Noel…but that's just a feeling. It's not a guarantee. I know you're not like this…but I hope you don't try and prove me wrong. For both our sakes." Raven said, and while her voice was still firm, there was a bit of her own melancholy in it, as if the thought of Savior changing so much to that degree would be more then she could bear, in some ways.

Savior held her gaze for a bit, and then he sighed and looked downward and to his right, the gesture more a random turn of the head then to actually look at anything.

"What happened to me Raven?" He asked. "I was never the bubbly bouncing type…but here I am screaming my head off at teenagers over immaterial things like history and ordering people around like I'm a drill sergeant instead of the paragon I'm supposed to be as per my title suggests…what's going on?"

"I think you know exactly why you're acting this way Noel." Raven said, as she sat down in front of her boyfriend, placing her books beside her.

And he did…he just didn't want to say it…but he had to…because that would probably be the only way he could truly understand it.

"Light City." Noel replied. "My first mission as a leader."

Raven nodded, knowing all too well of the event. Light City had been a town several dozen miles down the road from Jump City, a former tourist hotspot that had first fallen on hard times and then into the hands of some very bad men, men who had been in the process of turning the city into a crime-infested hellhole. The torture the city was going through finally came to a head when a murderous vigilante called Cauterize had shown up and started butchering the criminal element and everything else he perceived that kept Light City from becoming a "nice town" again. The Titans had been asked by the Police Chief of Jump City to go and help, and Robin had sent a four-man team led by Noel to do so. What had followed was terrible, messy, and destructive, and also the story of one of my better pieces of work, The Cutting Edge! (thumbs up, cheap pop). You don't have to read it to follow anything in this story…but if you like my work, you'll probably love it. Anyway, enough ego stroking, back to the story…

"What happened Noel?" Raven said, her voice now soft and asking a genuine question. "I know it wasn't all wine and roses, I saw some of it firsthand. But when you got back you seemed to be comfortable with it…and then several days later you just started dwelling on it. Why?"

"…You remember the Brother Blood attack that happened a week after we got home?"

"Yes…but that went as well as it could Noel. We got banged up a bit, but nothing serious. We foiled his plan, saved the day, the usual. Why would it haunt you?"

"Not the battle. Just something that happened to it. We were wrapping it up, doing the two-prong final strike…it's just the way Robin looked at me when he ordered me to lead the second prong. Cyborg should have led it, considering his issues with Blood, and yet he told me to. There was something in his eyes…something that was different. Like what happened in Light City made him see me more as an equal…and that…it made me feel like a fraud."

"Why?"

"Because the mission was an utter mess. I fucked up in every way imaginable."

"Oh Noel…you're being too hard on yourself. Really."

"I have to be. This is a dangerous life and if I fuck up people die. I fucked up, and people died. A lot of people."

"I'd say they were all criminals, but that clearly doesn't comfort you."

"No. It doesn't. Because they all weren't criminals." Savior said, remembering Cauterize's master plan and what had happened because of it. "They were still human. If I start regarding criminals, no matter how cruel and vicious they might be, as something less, then the battle's lost. Maybe they did deserve it, hell in the right mood I would have probably wanted to do what Cauterize did…but I don't. It's like Mark Twain said. 'I am different from Washington; I have a higher, grander standard of principle. Washington could not lie. I _can_ lie, but I won't.'"

"Quoting Twain again, well, remember THIS quote from him Noel. 'We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it-and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove lid again-and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.'" Raven said. Noel looked at her: she smiled wryly.

"Still, criminals or not, they were people. 'Since when do we have to agree with people to defend them with justice?' Lillian Hellman."

"'We are a people who do not want to keep much of the past in our heads. It is considered unhealthy in America to remember mistakes, neurotic to think about them, psychotic to dwell on them.' Also Hellman."

Savior's eyes narrowed.

"Getting back to the point. The Light City mission was a disaster on par with Carter's attempt to liberate the hostages from Iran, and at least there's the possible conspiracy that there might have been sabotage afoot to comfort those involved in it. I don't have that. Not only could I not prevent any of the deaths, I almost let Cauterize get away with it. If it hadn't been for sheer luck, I would have had the wool completely pulled over my eyes. What happened at the end of that mission wasn't great, but if Cauterize had tricked me, it would have been worse." Savior said.

"But he didn't."

"But only by chance!"

"You still figured it out."

"But…"

"Noel, you might not have succeeded in all your goals…but you shouldn't just think of how you couldn't see the master plan. You did more then that."

"Like what?"

"You kept your team alive."

"Barely! If Cauterize hadn't been pulling his punches, we'd all be dead! Hell, I still feel guilty over all the abuse Scalpel took, it shouldn't…"

"Noel…Nigel knew the risks. He doesn't blame you, why blame yourself?"

"A good leader would keep his teammates safe."

"Then you went above and beyond your duties. You didn't just lead your team, you helped bring Gar and Tara together."

"That mission was not a blind date! It was a assignment, an assignment I was given, an assignment that…Raven…I can't see how I succeeded in Light City."

"Operative words being you can't see. You did Noel. You're just being cynical."

" 'The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.' George Bernard Shaw."

" Maybe so, but your viewpoint of Light City is still wrong. And not only is it wrong, you're letting it affect this mission, and deep down inside, you KNOW, always did, that that while you may doubt your part in the Light City operation, wondering what you did wrong...you KNOW, KNEW what you were doing here was wrong."

"I was just trying to do a better job!"

" 'When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty.' Mr. Shaw again."

"But this requires special thinking…"

"'No man can be a pure specialist without being, in a strict sense, an idiot.' Shaw again."

"I thought the experience…"

"'Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.' Oscar Wilde."

"Stop quoting!"

"Why? Is that your job?" Raven asked.

"Why you…"

"Not my fault we mostly read the same books."

"But all the same…Light City…I just don't want any deaths…I want to help that kid…why does that make me the bad guy…I mean, all things aside, I do have more life experience, more up close and personal encounters with lunatics like Sizzle, the kid…I mean…all condensation and disagreeing aside, but Raven, he IS a rookie!"

"And as Carl Sandburg said, 'Who swindles himself more deeply than the one saying 'I am holier then thou'?'"

Silence.

"You're right." Savior finally said, and sighed deeply. "I went about this all wrong. I just kept looking at Light City and how I messed up…and the main thing that kept popping out at me was that I never had any control over the situation. It seemed like everyone and their mother was trying to work my teammates and I into their scheme, and their machinations and conspiracies kept spinning me around until I couldn't tell which way was up and which way was down. And as a result…so much death. And when I got picked to lead up this problem, against something like Sizzle…I didn't want it to happen again. I refused for it to happen again. So I decided that this time I had to be in control. EVERYTHING had to go through me, or otherwise it was worthless. And if anything messed that up…I had to deal with it. I thought that would help me keep the body count at zero, would help me neutralize Sizzle as effectively as possible…but I forgot about the point of the control and just became obsessed with the control itself. I just didn't want to fail again…not for my sake but the sake of the innocents who could get caught in this…and yet…this is how it winds up. Whoever runs this plane of existence has a nasty sense of humor." Savior said.

Silence, as Raven looked at her man. Despite his slight sorrow, she felt content: she knew Noel had enough introspection abilities to know when he was making a mistake, and despite her slight worries he'd done just that, realizing he was in error in his choices, where a lesser man would have refused to relinquish the high ground, even if he only possessed it in his own mind.

"You're a good leader Noel." Raven said. "You're just a terrible puppet master."

"Yes…but you're only half right." Savior said. "I'm a bad leader because I've been acting like the wrong kind of leader for this. I've been acting like a general away from the battlefield, looking at results given to me and issuing orders from that. Even if my judgment is sound, good, even exceptional, I am still encased in a cocoon, away from the reality of the fight. I need to treat this situation more like a medieval king would, riding before his men, acting as their leader and yet their equal both at the same time. In a situation like this…I have to fight a man's war, not a leader's war." Savior said, and was about to say something else when Raven put a finger to his lips.

"Allow me." Raven said, as she stood up and inhaled.

"THEY MAY TAKE OUR LIVES, BUT THEY WILL NEVER TAKE…OUR FREEDOM!" Raven bellowed in a terrible Scottish accent.

Savior goggled, his jaw dropping. Raven giggled. She was normally quite serious and dour herself…but she had her moments.

"That was bizarre and so wrong and I can't believe you just did that." Savior said.

"All joking aside…Noel, you can do this. Just not like this."

"Yeah…" Savior replied. "Yeah, I know that now."

"And I think you owe both Danny and Sam an apology."

"Yeah…I suppose I do. Anything else?"

"Well, you can stop using my toothbrush."

"What?"

"Kidding, kidding."

"Isn't the role of the jokester supposed to be filled by Gar or Rob?"

"You killed my father, you gave me the ability to feel emotions, you have to live with it when I occasionally feel the urge to be a goof."

"Still…what the hell? Shit." Savior said incredulous, still not able to believe his girlfriend had imitated William Wallace or Mel Gibson's interpretation of him anyway.

"'Cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it.' George Washington." Raven said, grinning. Savior's eyes narrowed again.

"'Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.' Twain again." Savior shot back.

"Ok, ok, you win this quote war for now hero. Besides the Danny thing, I found something else that might be of interest."

"Oh? What? A possible binding spell?"

"No, sorry…but something you might want to note anyway…" Raven said, as she reached over and lifted up one of the large dark books she had brought with her. While Noel didn't read Raven's spell books, as she had told him that doing so in and of itself could cause problems, he knew a fair amount about them, including that some were older then several human civilizations, spells woven into the books themselves to keep them from being reduced to dust from the ravages of time. "During the time before our previous meeting, when I was taking a brief rest, Sam brought me something. She wanted to know if I had any insight on it." Raven said, as she reached into a cloak pocket and withdrew the Sumerian artifact. The semi-hexagonal relic was slightly larger then Raven's hands, to the point where her fingers had to stretch to keep it held. It was a deep, deep blue, almost black, with etchings and symbols across its face.

"What's this?" Savior asked.

"A Sumerian remnant of some kind."

"What is it, an amulet?"

"No, Sam didn't think so…and neither do it. There's no hole or braces for a line to hang over someone's neck. Then again, I know some more things about Sumeria then she does…don't look so shocked, many ancient cultures dovetail into spells, one way or another. Back then man was more closely linked to the more primal elements of the universe, before they fell so much in love with science and logic."

"I'm not doubting. But what is it and how does it tie into us at the moment?"

"Well, don't quote me on this…but I think it's a key of some kind."

"You mean it opens a door?"

"Nothing so traditional. Key is the closest word I can find for it. By the slight groves I find on the side…it looks like this was once part of something larger, like a tablet, or maybe a wall. This piece could be removed and reinserted."

"So it's a puzzle piece."

Raven gave Savior a wry look.

"I suppose, but it doesn't complete a picture. I think the words on this completed some kind of message or prophecy or spell or something. Indeed, the top 'sentences' seem to be some kind of incantation."

"What's it say?"

"I really can't tell. These are REALLY old languages Noel. The kind that had been forgotten for eons when Latin was new. Translating them to English is pretty much impossible because languages were very different back in those days. It's not like translating French to Spanish, as those both have root in the Latin language and hence the words can easily be rendered from one form to another. It's like Egyptian, if they hadn't found the Rosetta stone we still wouldn't know what hieroglyphics said. And these languages makes Egyptian look young."

"So you can't translate it?"

"Ah, I didn't say that, My kind…we have done well not to forget the ages past…but I can't give a direct translation. I can only give an approximation. Danny's mother apparently tried translating the last two lines: there's actually a few lines above it that Sam didn't get in her sketch. They're very faint, I barely noticed them and had to use a careful spell to raise them enough to be legible. Danny's mother translated the first one she saw as "Willing and unwilling unite", but that's just one way it could be. It could also be "All come to me" or "I draw on the entirety of good and evil" or maybe "Their might be mine" or something else. But that's the last line in the possible spell. There's a line under it that seems completely apart from it."

"So? What is it?"

"Patience! This isn't a high school French assignment!" Raven snapped. "In any case, I think this was part, as mentioned, of some kind of larger piece of writing…and based on the final line, I think it spoke of some kind of immense power, a power that only a chosen few could access at certain times. Basically, the spell at the end of this is a consolation. It is telling people how to access other, not as great but still formidable, power because only the chosen few can access the special kind of power. The last line, after the spell, seems to be a reminder to the people using the spell that the power gained there is second rate and also a message to the so-called chosen on just how to access that original, greater power. Or it might be something telling people that they can never access the power. Or that the power lies within us all. I can't really tell if it's speaking to both "sides" or just one, partly because the artifact appears to be chipped at the end, which destroyed the last word. Not to mention it's very vague. The whole thing is. I could be going about this all wrong." Raven said.

"Well, I won't fault you for it…but are you saying this thing is dangerous?"

"This thing? No. Well, not really. Um, how shall I word this…even if you can see the spell, and read the letters…I don't think anything will happen. These grooves, it's not just where this piece would attach to the full writing, it's also where whoever had this artifact would hold it, and do…something. I don't know what. In a way, it's quite clever. Not only could you remove it from the larger piece of writing, hence robbing anyone who shouldn't be reading it of the last, vital part of information they needed…but whoever was in charge of it could detach it and use it…somehow. Maybe. Like I said, it's impossible to be sure. But in any case…you'd have to know exactly how to get this to work, I think. You can't just say the spell, you have to know HOW to say it. That how be a certain situation, a catalyst, a state of mind or emotion, who knows. Maybe Dr. Fate would know how to get it to work, but not the man on the street."

"So what's the point?"

"Well, we have gotten sidetracked. The main point I wanted to make was something I found in my books after I had examined this for Sam, while looking for any kind of binding spell. It ties into what the very last line on this says."

"About how only the chosen can find the true power? If that is indeed what it is saying?"

"We're going into this assuming that that indeed is what it is saying: how to find the true power. I found a few squiggles in here…" Raven said as she opened another one of the large books. "I tend to work my way backwards when I hunt for spells, check the most powerful and scale it back as needed. In amongst them I found something…disturbing."

"What?"

"This…" Raven said, pointing to something that was utter gibberish to Savior. "MIGHT have been Sumerian. MIGHT. It's been heavily bastardized, mixed in with other languages…BUT, if by chance I AM reading it right…I think it also speaks of the same great power that this artifact may have spoken of. The same great power I surmise was actually written more of on the larger section of this thing, the part that the artifact locked into, a part which has most likely been lost to time."

"…Ok. What kind of power?"

"Hard to say. The only thing I can find for sure is that it's HUGE. I mean, HUGE. It might completely dwarf the Sorceress."

Savior's pallor suddenly wasn't so good.

"Hey, don't panic yet. All I can tell for sure is that it's big. How big I can't tell for sure…but big. Enough to cause serious damage in this day and age anyway. Now, ancient prophecies are filled with stuff like that, a lot of which can be explained today in less fearful terms…but like I said, the fact that this can be translated several different ways gives it a possible more serious edge. This was what grabbed me: the term describing someone who HAD accessed that power. It could roughly be translated as 'ultimate forever-being.'"

"Fancy."

"Yes…and I don't see you worrying. I hate to do this…but if you muck around with acronyms, you get another term. 'Prime Immortal'."

"But what…" Savior said, and then he remembered.

"Oh god. Danny's enemy. Vlad."

"I see you remember the debriefing. How Vlad was bragging, through that Ember ghost, that he was something called the Primmortal. And when Sizzle burned him with that Soulcooker or whatever flame, Danny said Vlad couldn't believe it had happened because he was the Primmortal…"

"You think Vlad has accessed this incredible power?"

"Ah, have hope there Noel. If Vlad had truly found something like what is described here, he wouldn't be getting burned by Sizzle. He'd be blowing her out with a gesture. But still, he did throw us around like rag dolls. We might be able to attribute that to his decades of practice and his catching us by surprise…but it was a fair power. But not enough."

"Please tell me there's more good news anyway."

"There might be. When I found this I started cross-referencing with my other books…and don't worry, I cast that "Do Not Repossess" spell on Kory and myself already, no worries about me getting too carried away in research and forgetting that. And I did manage to find a few more scraps of semi-info, the whole "can't really translate it" thing aside…another says that while the power can be claimed, claiming it TRULY is immensely hard. Might even be impossible. So maybe Vlad hasn't found the actual power, but an offshoot, or the surface, or something, and that's enough for him to think he's found the power itself. That's interesting enough. But what was really interesting was something I found in the Book of Vermanthrax here."

"I thought that was the book of Quaserdor."

"No! The book of Quaserdor is over there, and besides its part of the Vylurchinabtyu Prophecies!"

"I thought you traded the Vylurchinabtyu Prophecies for two of Nechrklutkil's Manifestations and a copy of the Wrozxrytasx Io Refoplkiu."

"Do you even know what you're saying?"

"No. Do you?"

"Do you value your scrotum?"

"Depends, what book is that?"

A vein began to throb above Raven's eye.

"NOW who's being a goof?" Savior smirked.

"Well I suppose you don't want to know what might be the key to accessing this power and how this whole thing applies to us."

"You're right, I don't. Ignorance is bliss."

It took three seconds for Raven to slam Savior into the ceiling and then drop him back on the couch, which toppled over from the impact.

"Ow."

"You done yet?"

"Ow."

"You've shrugged off bullets like you were an action movie hero, Noel. Stop it."

"Ow."

"Would you like a spell that reduces everything you say to a monosyllable!"

"No." Savior said, as he sat up. "Uh, I mean…negative."

"All joking aside, if I gather all my books and what they told me together, I might have a very rough idea on when and who can access the so called Primmortal power. Now, as mentioned several times before, trying to match up modern languages and date systems with ancient gobbledygook isn't exactly the most precise science, mostly because it's the exact antithesis of science…but if I am doing this right…the last time the door was open was about 10,000 years ago. This also happened to be about the time the last ice ages ended."

"You don't think…"

"It was about the time humans started their first true steps towards civilization. Maybe. If what these people predicted was accurate, then the door is open again…it opened sometime back in the 1950's, and will stay open until about 2080, give or take a few dozen years. And now we get to the final, and most imperative point."

"Which is?"

"As I have said, that whole spell on this…" Raven said, raising the Sumerian artifact. "Seems to exist as a substitute for the Primmortal power, because only certain people, or things, or beings, can access it. And if I have read this correctly, and matched up everything, and please keep in mind I could be totally wrong…the qualities to be the ones who can access the power for this period of time are described as thus: 'those who walk in both worlds.'"

Silence.

And then Savior nervously licked his lips.

"So…you think…"

"I don't know. That's all it says. Nothing about ghosts, spirits, the supernatural, nothing. Just 'Those who walk in both worlds.' That could apply to all kinds of things. That could apply to me, because I'm half demon. It could apply to Cyborg, because he's part machine. Hell, it could apply to you, as you have a human form and a metahuman form. But considering what Vlad said…it might very well apply to…well, I doubt Vlad would claim he's something he's not. Arrogant as those kinds are, they like to have a solid ground for their arrogance."

Silence again.

"That's pretty much it. I thought it might be important…if only in hindsight."

"Hmmmmmmm." Savior said. "As far as you can tell, this power is supposedly very tricky to access."

"Tricky is putting it mildly. But it's the same for everyone in regards to that trickiness. The power's not good or evil, it just is. It's essentially clay that can be molded by the findee however he or she sees fit, but you have to find it first. Supposedly that is the hard part. Perhaps the fact that Vlad is claiming to be so really indicates he has NOT found the power, or the true heart of it. Besides that…I don't know what to make of it…except that we might have stumbled onto something big here."

"Great. So what do we do with this knowledge?" Savior asked.

"For now…I say keep it to ourselves. We don't want to go babbling about this, could cause all kinds of problems, especially considering that we have no idea if any of this is actually true."

"Hmmmmm…yes…" Savior said, as he traced the patterns on the relic. How strange: both a spell to gain power and after all that a reminder that the power accessed by that spell is second rate compared to the Primmortal power, which could only be found by…doing what? Being who?

And would it come to bear on this mission…

And then a nearby door opened and Starfire walked in.

"Guys…um…Danny called another meeting."

Savior arched an eyebrow.

"Um…he'd like you all to attend…any issues Savior?" Starfire asked.

"Perhaps, but not to worry Starfire, I'm out of that vein I was in earlier." Savior said, as he and Raven stood up to follow.

They left the books and the artifact on the table. They did not think they would be important at the moment.

* * *

Danny was more nervous then he had ever been in his life. 

He'd gone and spoken with Cyborg, as he had planned, and then Starfire when she had returned from her sweep (and confirmed that if there was anyone in Amity Park, she couldn't find them), and while neither had agreed with his worry that Savior might call them off this mission, they had both agreed that he was acting rather badly. That had given him the confidence to call for this assembly, but now that he was actually at the table, he found said confidence starting to desert him again. He couldn't help it. And when Starfire had come into the room with Raven and Savior, it had only gotten worse. Danny had been planning to draw on Tucker for support, as his best male friend seemed quite keen on the idea that Danny take over, since Danny was the ghost fighter and Savior was a jerk and all that, but the second Savior had entered the room Tucker had swiftly retreated to one of the corners, as if worried Savior was going to strike him. Sam wasn't there: Danny guessed she was still cleaning up.

The three returning teens sat down. Danny stole a glance at Savior. He didn't seem angry, or worse, amused. Hell, he seemed…rather receptive. Danny, still a bit young and not used to the ups and downs of life, and how some people could do complete or at least near 180's on their opinions, began to wonder if this was some scheme to discredit him, or worse, that all the Titans were really on Savior's side and had just been setting him up for a bigger fall.

"Um…uh…" Danny stammered, wishing desperately he once again had some of the fire he had shown when he had needed to get Savior away from Sam. After all, if he had to wrest control away from Savior and, god forbid, take over, he had to show fire! Ok, maybe that was a bad choice of words. He had to show passion…and….and….and…

"Danny…could I speak first?" Savior asked.

Danny gulped, though part of him felt relieved…and he didn't much appreciate that part.

"Uh…ok." Danny said.

Savior stood up.

"Ladies and gentlemen." He began. "History has clearly shown that even the greatest strategic minds can be wrong in crucial processes…"

"Oh, not another speech! Savior, would it kill you to just get to the point?" Cyborg half yelled.

Savior blinked…and strangely, Danny felt much better.

"All right. Sure." Savior said. "Danny, I was wrong. About pretty much everything. I'm sorry. Will you accept my apology?"

Danny was the one who blinked now.

"Uh…uh…"

"Perhaps more accurately, will you accept it before you give yourself a stroke?"

That did it: Danny sat down again.

"Um…" Danny said, not sure what to say.

"Just say yes or no Danny, and we'll go from there."

"…Will the outcome be more maladroit if I say no?" Danny said, and suddenly wondered where he had gotten that word.

"No, no it won't. I have allowed myself too much failing already." Savior replied.

"Oh…well then yes, I accept your apology Savior."

"Noel. My name's Noel."

Danny blinked.

"This is Victor…" Savior said, pointing to Cyborg, who waved. "And Kory…" Starfire smiled. "And well, Raven is just Raven. I trust that such information will never leave your lips."

"Uh…no…but uh…I'm not sure about our company…" Danny said, as he looked at Tucker…and found the teen clawing at a black energy orb that had encased his head, an orb that vanished as Danny looked at it.

"Ahhhh!" Tucker gasped. "What was that for?"

"Sorry. Misfired spell." Raven said. Tucker gave her an odd look: Savior just smiled to himself. She was always on the ball.

"But Danny…unpleasantness and ego and all such aside, I could see how tense and uneasy you were. You clearly thought the worst, and while I suppose I gave you good reason…and in regards to that observation, I have to ask you: do you think you're ready to lead this group?" Savior asked.

Danny swallowed and considered his words.

"No…but I'm damn sure ready to HELP lead it. We need someone to balance you NNNNN…Savior." Danny said: Tucker looked confused.

"Maybe we do…but there is one thing that still bugs me Danny." Savior said, as he turned and walked away, his back to the ghost teen. "I will admit to have made more then a few mistakes in my thinking process and its resultant conduct between you and your girlfriend…"

"Sam's not my girlfriend!"

"Right, sorry, keep forgetting. Like I was saying, I made errors and I apologize again. But the fact remains that the following battle might still require some very hard decisions. And Danny, I don't want be the bad guy again, but I really don't think you're hard enough to make them." Savior said.

"Maybe not…but I don't consider it a weakness that I don't want to destroy Sizzle."

"Indeed…but you want to fight her, correct?"

"Yes!"

"Then you do that." Savior said, as he turned around, and though the gaze had shifted somewhat to regard Danny with more favor, that hard edge was back in Savior's eyes, the eyes of a man who was willing to make the tough choices. "What about the rest of you? What's going on?"

"All the battle gear has been assembled and ready. And while there's still a lot of bugs in the Oxygen Destroyer, I guess it's about as ready as it's going to be without several days hard work." Cyborg said.

"I couldn't find any kind of imprisoning spell, but I found several battle spells which I believe could be quite useful in the fight." Raven said.

"I cannot really offer anything except my hands…but with the town completely empty, I will use those to the best of my ability." Starfire said.

"And I…I…" Danny said.

"No need Danny. I know what you'll do." Savior said. "You'll fight her. And that's all you'll do, because in the end…we'll be charged with actually dealing with her. I won't burden you with such a hard choice. Unless you've thought of another plan."

Danny noticed Sam entering the room, but she held back, apparently still a bit cowed and uncertain of what was going on. He looked at her and gave a brief thumbs up under the table, but she didn't seem comforted. In fact, she looked a tad bit ill.

"…No. At the moment, despite my dislike of it…you're probably right. With no special thermos, no way to keep her in the Ghost Zone, and that sick mind of hers…I guess we will have to…take care of her." Danny said. That reality seemed to depress him though.

"Danny." Raven said, and he looked at the goth female. "Never forget why we do this. I know this isn't quite the same as pounding on a spirit and then sucking it up in a Thermos…but you did that for the same reason we're doing this. To protect the world, and those you care about. It's great to have a peaceful heart…but that is not the same as supporting pacifism."

"I know…I know that. I…just don't like it." Danny said. He sighed again.

And then he stood up.

"But she made her choice. They speak of nurture and environment taking someone and messing them up so bad they can't tell right from wrong…I really don't believe that. The choice to do evil is a conscious choice, and a choice to revel in such deeds…Sizzle may arouse my pity, but only so much. Whether or not she can be saved…that's not my problem any more. She wants to burn my life and everything in it? Well, she can try. I'll be ready for her." Danny said, and though he never knew what came over him at the time, he thrust his hand out over the table.

Everyone stared at it.

For a brief moment, Danny's determination and resolve in the face of such danger quickly withered away as it was replaced by a new overwhelming desire to crawl under the table and die.

And then Cyborg stood up.

"And I'll be right there with you kid." Cyborg said, as he slapped (well, slammed, it was hard for a superstrong cyborg to slap anything) his hand down on Danny's, Whether he had been inspired by the teen or just wanted to support his imprudent gesture, who knew, but he went along with it.

"As will I." Starfire said, doing likewise, her cheery smile edged with her fierce resolution.

"We all will." Raven said, as she accepted the inevitable and floated over to add her hand.

You would expect Savior to hesitate, but he didn't, as he strode over and added his hand.

"Titan or Phantom, our goal is the same. And none of us will yield, relent, or fade in the face of death. Or the face of hell itself." Savior said.

Especially him, and that was the worst part. Despite his resolution to turn over a new leaf…Savior had kept one final thing to himself, one final plan that might make all his dickishness beforehand seem positively nice. He had to: none of the Titans would accept it if they knew about it beforehand, and Danny sure wouldn't. But if it all failed…Savior knew that all the Titans accepted that one day they might have to give up their lives to save innocent people. Danny, despite his youth, might have a grasp on it too. But even so, his last ditch plan, one he had finished working out just before Sam had come storming in…

He hoped it didn't come to that.

But if it did, he wasn't going to waver. Not with the world at state.

"None of us." Raven said.

"None of us." Starfire repeated.

"None of us." Cyborg echoed.

"None of us." Danny finished.

"None of us!" Came a voice, as Tucker slapped his hand down.

Everyone looked at him.

He grinned sheepishly.

"Uh…I did bring cookies, doesn't that make me an honorary hand thing guy?" He asked.

"Eh, sure, why not." Savior replied. His support back and stronger then ever, Danny couldn't help but grin.

"All right, all for one and one for all. What chance does Sizzle have?"

A final hand slammed down.

But not on the grouped limbs.

On Tucker's shoulder.

**_"EVERY CHANCE IN HELL."_**

And for Danny, it all seemed to go in slow motion, as the voice pierced into his ears, that terrible female voice, so close…

And then Tucker burst into flames. It was so sudden that the Titans stood there for nearly two seconds, in utter shock, before Tucker began to scream, and then they were all splitting apart and starting to yell as Danny goggled, his heart a piece of ice in his chest how he hadn't had any smoke or burning come from his mouth at all HOW…

"HAHHHHHHHHH!" Sizzle screamed, as she thrust up her hands.

And the entire room exploded in flames.

* * *

Outside the house, light streamed forth from the windows and then suddenly the entire middle of the grand mansion exploded, the magnificent structure instantaneously converting to burning ruins, the blast ringing through the empty streets as fire belched into the air and rained burning debris everywhere. 

Danny came crashing down on the ground in the large backyard of the mansion, rolling a few times before stopping, gasping, and then the pain of being blown through burning walls and out onto the yard hit him, and he clenched up and moaned, nearly falling prone on the ground, and then what had just happened came back to him, and he tried to rise up…

"No…" He moaned.

And then a fireball flew from the smoke, detonating in front of Danny and sending him tumbling along the ground some more, as he came to a stop a few dozen feet away, his vision blurring and then snapping back as he forced it to clear, as he tried to get up, and then it hit him all over again, as he moaned once more and collapsed to one knee…

"No…no no…how…no…"

"Oh you stupid stupid little boy." Came a voice, and Danny looked up at the approaching figure in the smoke. "You assume that because you've always seen them coming that your talent always will. You assume there's only one tactic I can use. You assume there's no more then one way to skin a cat…oh, I'd almost be stupefied if I wasn't so very amused..."

And then Sam Manson walked through the smoke…except it wasn't Sam. It was Sizzle. And Danny didn't need any kind of special talent to tell, because the female flame spirit's essence hung over Sam like a costume, her body and face slightly superimposed over the goth teen. But the voice that came from Sam's mouth wasn't hers, but Sizzle's…and even now, Danny could not believe it...

"How…why…how…how…?"

"Still bamboozled? Think back shithead. Back to your brave little lady friend at the school yesterday, shoving your coon buddy out of the way to keep him from being burned as dark as his race was called before we started this PC African-American shit…funny how that did him no good in the end, did it? I can still smell his roasting carcass. Delicious." Sizzle said. "Taking the blast of flame I had prepared for him, correctly guessing it wouldn't kill her. And it didn't. But she didn't act so last second that I didn't see that my target had changed, and that was juuuussstttt enough to make one crucial little alteration in my fire blast. She took the blast, and hence you friend survived, as did she…but not without cost, because it allowed me to plant a seed of myself in her, a tiny spark of my essence, in case I needed her later. Originally I planned to harvest her for a host after I took care of you, but when you JUST-WOULDN'T-DIE…well, I needed a different tact. And with those Titans showing up…I figured the best way to solve my thorny little problem was an inside job. So I headed back to your girlfriend after you chased me off from the goth sorceress, and I disappeared into my tiny seed, and I slowly, ever so slowly, made it grow, hidden so deep inside her that neither she or you ever detected I was there…at least until I was ready. And lo and behold, when I awoke and took control of her in that washroom…I was so linked to her you never saw me coming. At least…not until it was too late." Sizzle said, and smiled wickedly, as several more explosions shook Sam's house behind her, backdropping the sadistic flame being with an even more hellish backdrop.

"No…Sam…fight it Sam…fight it…" Danny said.

"Fight me? You think she could fight me?" Sizzle asked. "Could your mother and sister fight me? I think not, and those possessions were just crude drop ins. This…this is a perfect merge kid. I am Sam Manson, she is me, and all the Fenton Ghost Garbage or ghost powers in the world can't separate us. Not that it matters, because you and your Titan fucks are dead. The Titans got off easy: instant vaporize. But you…" Sizzle said.

Danny finally found his feet, and he started backing up, his face a mask of horror, as Sam approached, Sizzle's flaming tendrils trailing after her, her mouth twisted into that cruel, inhumane smirk.

"You just should have died Danny." Sizzle said. "But no. Well, now you've got me good and pissed off. They'll be telling what I did to you for a horror story for generations." Sizzle said, as she flexed her fingers.

"You…you…you're a monster! Nothing in hell has anything on you!" Danny screamed.

Sizzle just smiled.

"You're right. There's nothing worse then me in all of hell." Sizzle said, as fire exploded on her hands.

"Go and see."

To Be Continued


	15. Ignipotens: Original Sins

Chapter 15: Original Sins

Ignipotens: Ruler of Fire

_"Nessun maggier dolore, Che ricordarsi del tempo felice Nella miseria."  
_("There is no greater sorrow than to recall, in misery, the time when we were happy.")  
Dante, _Inferno_, V

Never ever question if there a depth to which human beings cannot sink to.

Never conceive of a limit for human deviance, perversion, and sickness. Never think that you have seen the most twisted, the coldest hearted, the most warped and disgusting abnormality, something so low and mean and awful and terrible that you can't believe that it could get any worse.

Because life will prove you wrong.

Dante spoke of nine levels in Hades. He was wrong.

There IS no ground floor in hell.

What is the source of this terrible curse? This black rot that infests people, in varying degrees, making us anguish and despair over what they are and how they could be?

Is it God? According to some religions humanity was made in his image. Perhaps this flaw within so many was his intention to prevent us from being exact copies of him. Or perhaps it was brought into us via humanity's consort with the devil. Perhaps something else: religious books often say that god's ways are beyond our ability to understand. And often so are the sicknesses and evils within humankind.

Or maybe nothing so messianic is at work here. Perhaps it is just the curse of our evolution. The ability to think better then any species on the planet…and at the same time, suffer a fate none of them endure. Animals need no reason to exist: they just do, and they always have. Humans NEED a reason to be alive, CRAVE one. It is simply not enough to live for humans: they must have a PURPOSE for this life.

Whatever the reason may be…

Never think you've seen the worst.

Do not attempt to understand it. You cannot. The minds of the people like that are as beyond your comprehension as understanding what it is like to be a hurricane. Perhaps you may fathom an inkling…but never the entirety. And maybe it is best. For is you truly understood…you might be one of them.

But…there is one thing you should understand, about the curse of evil…perhaps its greatest power…

_Something a young girl cannot understand, as she cowers in her closet, listening to the roar outside. Even Theseus, in the Labyrinth, hearing the minotaur bellow off in the distance…even he couldn't have heard anything so beastly, perhaps because this was coming from a fully human throat. Somehow, that fact and the sound combined it make it truly horrid, truly terrifying, almost as bad as what was to come…_

_The door yanked open._

_"THERE YOU ARE, YOU LITTLE SLUT!"_

I will not tell you what happened afterward. Or how many times. Or how it would likely happen the next day, the day after next, and the day after next. If not by this man, by others.

There is no ground floor in hell…

Is this man evil? In a way…and yet not. He is to evil as a rusty run down shack is to buildings. Disgusting, petty, sick…but small, weak, worthless. Perhaps not to the poor girl who has to live in this hellish place…but in the grand scheme of things…a minor player. He may be evil, but he is a small, brutish evil.

But evil has a trick…and in that trick is its greatest power…

_The same._

_Night after night._

_Until one night…_

_"HOW MANY…!" The man roared as he opened the door, expecting to find, as usual, the thing he used, which he thought he had every right to use as he saw fit. As I said, only humans need a reason to live. For some, those reasons are small, personal pleasurse. And some of those pleasures…can be utterly unspeakable…_

_But things had changed. Too much vile horror had been visited. And now it would all come roaring back…_

_As he found not the girl…but fire…_

_Terrible, raging fire…_

_She was eleven years old._

It is not content to stay where it is. Much like a virus, it must spread. And more then that. It must remake itself, refine itself, and build on its might.

And so sick little men, women, and children do their terrible things…and in their own way plant the seeds, water them, and one day they come to bloom…

And yet her hell was not over. In a way it had just begun.

You cannot understand evil.

But understand this.

Beware evil's taint.

That is its greatest power.

And through the appalling deeds of the small ones do the great ones live…

Endlessly...

_She screamed. And screamed. And screamed…

* * *

_

And so did Savior as he threw the flaming wreckage off of himself. He staggered a bit, growling as he grabbed at his arm.

Savior had a phrase: to be Operation Market Gardened. Long story short (for a deeper explanation, if you seek it, consult Chapter Six of my original Titans story, Black And White (thumbs up, cheap pop), I feel no need to repeat myself here), it meant for a well thought out plan to be completely derailed by something no one could have seen coming. Like Sizzle suddenly popping up in Sam's body without Danny or Raven sensing it and blowing them all to hell.

Or so she thought. But she'd counted on the fact that the flame guards the Titans had been wearing would be at their previous level of strength. She was wrong. The battle with Sizzle had given Raven a better grasp on her power, and one of the first things she had done when she had gotten back to the Manson place was to enhance the talismans the Titans wore. That is what had saved Noel…and the other Titans. They had to be all right. No, Savior wasn't worried about them: he was too busy being enraged that Sizzle had snuck in the back door and blown everything up in their faces.

But not as much as she thought she had, and she was going to rue that miscalculation.

"All right you crazy bitch." Savior growled. "War it is!"

And then another wall collapsed on the white teen. Standing still in a burning building can have some serious drawbacks.

* * *

Though when it comes to drawbacks, perhaps nothing can match being the first in the sights of a malevolent psychotic ghost made of fire. Danny had gotten that reminder plenty of times over the past couple of days…but this was the worst: looking at Sam, a girl he cared as deeply about as much as he cared for his mother, in Sizzle's grasp, Sizzle warping her features so that it looked at Danny with so much vile, venom, and sadistic joy. 

Danny clenched his hands. While his powers had not been working during the meetings, Danny had theorized that if push came to shove, he'd be able to call on them. Time to put it to the test, as he reached down within himself…

"Ah ah." Sizzle said, waving one finger in a chastising manner. "You don't want to be doing that."

"Shut up you monster!" Danny said.

"You start changing, I roast this vessel to ash."

That stopped Danny dead.

"…w-what?" He asked in a small voice.

"My unique taking of this girl has more then the advantage that it let me fly in under your radar." Sizzle said, as she walked forward, slowly circling her hands at the wrists in the way some people do when they're explaining something. "It gives me a closer link then any of my previous hosts. Long story short…you turn into that ghost form, and I'll leave your girlfriend here in such a way she'll be cooked through and through before you can do anything. And she'll feel all of it, I can assure you." Sizzle said. "You so badly wanted to fight me, Danny Fenton. Well, go ahead. Change. You can get to witness the first ever case of assisted spontaneous human combustion."

Danny's gut filled with ice again.

"Go ahead. I'm waiting." Sizzle said, smirking.

A million things ran through Danny's head…and what kept coming up was that nothing was worth this fight. If he turned back, and Sizzle left the host as she promised, and they got her with the Oxygen Destroyer…Danny wouldn't be able to go on. Not with the memory of Sam igniting before him, her screams ringing in his ears and his nostrils filling with the stench of burning human flesh…

Danny's arms fell limp at his side.

"Oh you poor fuck." Sizzle said. "Don't you wish you'd been a good boy and died back when I came out? But no…you had to be a hero. Well my dear boy, being a hero has a very, VERY high price." Sizzle said.

And then she was suddenly right up in Danny's face.

"Time to pay up."

The punch broke Danny's nose, sending him flying off his feet and flat onto his back. He wasn't sure what hurt worse: the dull crunch of his cartilage breaking or the feeling of the back of his skull slamming against the rather hard ground.

Sizzle lowered her arm…revealing a strange sight. While the arm lowered in the way of a contented person, the facial features of Sam Manson were alight in shocked horror. And if we look closely, we see that the red haze surrounding Sam seemed to have increased, mostly above her, faintly forming the upper part of a torso and a head. A head with faint facial features of its own, these ones showing content.

"No…" Sam whispered, in her own voice. While before Sizzle's demented dulcet had issues forth from her mouth, like it had with all her original hosts…this was different. In the previous hosts, their entire form and mind had been subjugated to Sizzle's iron fist. Here…it appeared Sam Manson still existed, and could still see and react in a form visible to others.

Which was exactly what Sizzle wanted. She'd waited too long for this: she was going to make it memorable.

"No…!" Sam said, as she suddenly found herself walking forward, her legs disobeying her every command to stop, as her hands raised, the fingers cracking, as Danny, blood running down his face, tried to get up. He looked up with a shock and horror that mirrored Sam's.

Sam's fist slammed into his gut, doubling him over.

"NO!" Sam screamed, as her hand reached down and grabbed Danny's hair. "NO! STOP IT! STOP IT!"

Her body didn't obey, as it snapped up its knee and slammed into Danny's face. Sam felt the impact, felt the strike run up her leg, felt Danny's features contort under the blow, felt blood splash on the limb…but she had absolutely no say so in what it was doing. As Danny reeled back from the blow, her arm lashed out in a vicious backhand, smacking Danny across the face and sending him flying a few more feet.

"Oh god, NO!" Sam screamed, as she realized she wasn't just a host, she was a puppet in every sense of the word. "STOP IT! STOP IT!"

"Stop it?" Spoke Sizzle's voice above her. "Girl, I loathe this fucking child with every ounce of my being. I told him to die, and he kept refusing. If he'd just been a good boy at the beginning, I'd have been too concerned with other vendettas to spend more then a few minutes cooking him. But he had to be a hero. And what do heroes get? They get this. And what way to drive the cost of it home then to be beaten to death by the woman they love?"

"No…stop it…!" Sam screamed, as she started walking forward again, as she reached out and tried to once again reclaim her body, pouring all her willpower into it, as Danny got to his knees, moaning, blood dripping from his face, as Sizzle drew back her leg for a kick…

And stopped.

"Well well, what have we here?" Sizzle said, as the red fiery haze twisted and flowed down, until it was facing Sam, the puppet master examining her toy. "Resisting are we?"

"I WON'T…LET YOU HURT HIM…" Sam snarled. "WON'T…WON'T…"

"Ah, my dear girl…you must understand…he deserves this."

"NO HE DOESN'T! YOU'RE SICK! YOU'RE COMPLETELY INSANE!"

"Actually, you are. You let yourself fall for a male. And you actually think you're resisting my control. I'm just pretending you are." Sizzle said.

Sam's eyes widened, and then her leg set down and swung back, not affected by her attempt to claim it at all, and swung forward to bury itself deep in Danny's ribs, flipping him over with a gasping scream. Sam screamed herself, but she couldn't stop her body from stomping on Danny's stomach and then kicking him in the face when he reared up from that blow, thudding his head back against the ground again.

"Oh, this is more fun then I thought." Sizzle said, ignoring Sam's screams of rage and horror. They were almost as good as the boy's pain, as he tried to get up, coughing, blood spilling from his mouth. Too red though: probably from his lips rather then inside him. She'd see to that though. "All those years of frying males, I was missing out."

Danny was trying to get to his feet: Sizzle grabbed him by the hair, slammed two more fists into his gut, and then viciously elbowed him in the face. Sam felt something crack from that blow, and her scream was tinged by a sob because of it…

"Stop it…" She begged.

"No." Sizzle said. "Because THEY never stop girl. They pound on you until you can't fight back, and then they hold you open and take what they want, no matter how much you beg, no matter how much you scream, no matter how much you cry. ALL OF THEM. THEY'RE ALL THE SAME! And you're going to learn, girlie, that the price for loving a hero is a high as the price for being one. When I'm done with this kid, he'll be cursing your name for the rest of his very short life!"

"NO! NO!" Sam screamed as she tried to resist again, and found once more she couldn't control her limbs, she couldn't turn her head, she couldn't even close her eyes. All she could do was watch…and feel…and listen to Sizzle's delight as she beat Danny to a pulp.

"YOU MAY DO THIS WITH MY BODY, BUT IT WILL NOT BE ME! HE'LL KNOW THAT IT'S NOT ME!" Sam screamed as Sizzle approached Danny again, as he looked up in a daze, one of his eyes starting to swell shut.

"Sam…" Danny said.

Sam went dead silent, as she looked at Danny, trying to stand again, even so badly battered.

"Fight back Danny! Fight back!"

"Won't do any good girlfriend. My seed possession has many bonuses! Another is that while I have total control of your motor system not to mention your body as a vessel to focus my powers…but I'm not linked to your nervous system. Go ahead Danny! Hit her! You'll just hurt her!"

"Sam…oh Sam…" Danny whispered.

Sizzle smashed him across the face, fully breaking his cheekbone and sending him flying again.

"No…NO STOP! STOP!" Sam wept.

"You still haven't learned Sam. This is my world now. And all the begging won't stop me. I take what I want. And I want to show him death's door. After a lengthy detour through hell." Sizzle said, as she started after Danny again.

* * *

Danny wasn't the only one in hell. 

Though perhaps Tucker had more mercy: despite his horrific burns, his body had both suffered a blow to the head from the explosion and gone into shock, so while he was still in great pain, it wasn't the immense agony he would be in if he'd been fully conscious. Where he could still hurt anyway: the third degree burns on his body had destroyed a good chunk of his surface nerves. The downside was that he probably only had a few minutes to live.

Or, considering the debris falling his way, a few seconds.

Before an angel came to his rescue. A dark angel, as black power seized the flaming debris and threw it away from him, more dark power snuffing out the flames around him as Raven floated down.

"Oh…oh you poor boy…" She whispered. This was always the worst part of her life: when innocents, lacking power but not bravery and heart, were caught in the crossfire in the war between good and evil, especially a war this personal. Tucker had been Danny's best friend…and he'd paid the price for it. A price that he should not have paid, but evil never hesitated when it came to extracting pounds of flesh from those who didn't owe them.

But…sometimes…mercy came, as Raven knelt down before him. She with in some luck: her healing ability required her to take pain into the body and Tucker's condition negated a good chunk of the pain…but still, healing him would be difficult.

But she didn't care. She'd die before she let him do so, as she laid her hands on his seared, melted flesh and concentrated.

"Azarath…Metrion…ZINTHOS!" She chanted, as black power flowed out and around her and Tucker, and then with a dark flash of power, it disappeared. Raven staggered back, gasping a bit under the pain…but it wasn't as bad as she had expected…

She looked at Tucker, seeing that the burns were indeed gone, replaced by smooth, undamaged flesh that clearly showed through his ragged clothes…as a white line removed itself from his ear and flowed back to Savior, who was kneeling nearby, grimacing.

"Noel?" Raven asked.

"Hey Rae. Good to see you're alive." Noel grunted through gritted teeth.

"You took most of his pain into your body to make my healing him easier."

"We owe him that." Savior replied, as he got up, the pain fading. Motion caught his eye, and then Starfire dropped down.

"I cannot see Danny: There is smoke everywhere and I am trying to avoid an ambush, but we must find him, quickly!" Starfire said, her voice worried and urgent.

"We will." Raven said, as she looked at the ground: a large scoop of dirt was pulled out via telekinesis, about six by six feet, as Raven lifted Tucker into the ditch and laid him down in it. Yanking nearby stones from a walkway, she builds a small but thickly lined fort over Tucker.

"He should have enough air in there to last about an hour. After that we'll either have won or died, I doubt there's any other option." Raven said. "Where's Cyborg?"

"He's ok. He's grabbing the gear, but let's not wait for him. We have to find Danny. Split up!" Savior ordered, and the three Titans scattered, trying to locate the teen in time.

None aware that they were already too late.

* * *

Danny was in utter agony, and not just in his battered, bleeding body. He was tormented in his heart and soul as well, as he listened to Sam's screams and cries as her body did the dirty work. He had thought he had finally managed to grasp Sizzle's cruelty and hatred for him, but now he realized he hadn't even been close. And he never could have been. She was beyond all his intellectual capacity. She wasn't a hurting victim or even crazy. She was evil, and she reveled in it. 

As she was now, as she violently kicked him in the kneecap, and then when he doubled over she slammed an elbow into his spine. Danny crumpled to the ground, his vision a blur, his eyes stinging with blood. He got up, trying to get away, and he heard Sizzle laughing behind him, her sadistic joy rent with the undertone of Sam's sobs. In part of him, a great rage stirred, not at what was happening to him but the anguish Sam was going through. Why did Sizzle have to do this, forcing such suffering on not just him but her? What had she ever done…

…Except care for him. Deeply. And in Sizzle's mind, that was enough reason to punish her as well. She probably saw it as a betrayal on top of how much she wanted to kill Danny.

Danny could make out a vague shadow to his side, but his sight wasn't gone enough to confuse it for a Titan. Where were they, he wondered? Were they truly dead? Dying? Injured? Would Savior tend to his own wounded before he would help Danny?

"Oh look, a tool shed!" Sizzle said. "I wonder how good the structure is."

Sizzle tested this by picking up Danny and throwing him into the side of the small wood building, hard. Unfortunately, it was of good construction, as Danny's body took all the impact, as he crumpled to the ground, whimpering. He had tried to be strong, tried not to scream for help or beg for mercy that would not come, but he was not James Bond or an Akkadian, he wasn't trained to resist great amounts of pain, and every part of his body was in sheer torture.

"Wow, good assembly there." Sizzle said, as she walked up to the shed. "Wonder how well equipped it is."

Danny's mind was fading into murk again, as he rolled over and tried getting up, trying to get away. He couldn't hear Sizzle rummaging through the shed.

"No, too life threatening. Too life threatening. Too life threatening. Ah, perfect!"

"WHAT!" Sam screamed as Sizzle stepped out, wielding a rake, the kind used to sweep up leaves in the fall. "NO! NO!"

"You are terribly stubborn sister." Sizzle said as she approached. "You don't have a say, except to hear him SUFFER!"

And Sizzle brought the rake down, the spines slashing across Danny's back, and he finally screamed out loud as all the nerve endings ignited at once, rearing up, as Sizzle swung the rake back and slashed/struck him across the side, ripping open more flesh wounds on his left arm as he rolled from the impact.

"Ho boy, are we having fun yet?" Sizzle asked.

"YOU'RE A MONSTER! A MONSTER!" Sam was screaming.

"I am what they made me." Sizzle said as she walked up. "You consider that."

And she broke the handle of the rake over Danny's back, and when he reared up from THAT blow she slashed him, hard, across the face, ripping apart his features in a line of bloody wounds as he was flung back onto the ground.

"Bored now." Sizzle said, as she tossed the rake aside…and spied something behind the toolshed. Stacked cordwood, put aside for the winter. Though human eyes could not really see it, Sizzle's fiery optics seemed to fade a bit, as if she was forgetting where she was.

"Hmmm…I…well…but…" Sizzle said. "Daddy…"

And then her eyes grew furious.

"No. No more. NO FUCKING MORE!" Sizzle screamed as she stomped forward and snatched up a piece of wood, as Sam screamed again and begged her to stop, but Sizzle didn't hear Sam, didn't even enjoy her suffering any more, because she was utterly lost in rage, as she strode back over to Danny.

"Here's a little something for you DADDY!" Sizzle screamed as she brought the cordwood down on Danny's back, carefully aiming for the muscles: she didn't want a broken back robbing her of any of her well deserved pain. Danny screamed as the powerful club slammed against him, reverating through his form, as he tried to get away.

"HERE'S HOW IT FEELS BIG BROTHER!" Sizzle screamed as she smashed Danny's kneecap with the log, shattering it. "LIKE IT, BIG MEN? HUH? HUH? WHO HAS THE BIG ONE NOW?" Sizzle bellowed as she slammed blow after blow into Danny's body, not hearing his cries or Sam's, just feeling her overwhelming need to pay them all back, again and again, because her pain never faded so she'd return it back on the world TENFOLD…

The log, slick with blood, finally slipped from her hands, but it didn't matter, as she kicked Danny onto his back and climbed onto him, no longer making any noise at all, as she raised a fist and brought it down on Danny. A dull crunch rang through the air.

"I'm sorry Danny." Sam sobbed as her fists went up and down, up and down, blood coating the knuckles. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

"I'M SORRRRRRRYYYYY!"

WHAM! Sizzle brought her hands together, raised them up, and brought them down full force on Danny's face. The impact made Danny's whole body spasm, and then it went limp.

Sizzle finally regained control of herself, blinking, and then looked down on Danny's broken body, his face an utter mess. But she apparently hadn't broken any ribs, somehow, as his chest was still rising and falling, slightly. She smirked to herself.

"Well…all good things must come to an end…" Sizzle said, as she flexed her aching hands. She was amazed she hadn't broken any of her host's fingers. The girl must drink her calcium.

"No…" Sam whimpered.

"Oh yes. Take a good look Sam. Remember it. Because you'll be seeing this sight for the rest of your life." Sizzle said, as she leaned in close to Danny's swollen, battered, bloody face. "You're all scum Danny. All of you. Your sins unite you, no matter your actions. I saw it all, on my quest to find a way back. Saw all your crimes, all your atrocities. Well, it ends now. It's time for mankind to learn the price of his sickness. He'll learn to curse that sack of flesh and tissue that hangs between his legs. And when they all get down to hell…you can show them around, Danny."

A speck of fire ignited on the tip of Sizzle's finger, as she slowly raised it up, and then brought it before Danny's face.

"But before you go…breath in deep Danny." Sizzle whispered. "I want you to feel ME inside YOU."

And then Danny, his brain fogged by pain beyond any human should endure, did indeed take that breath.

And sucked Sizzle's flame in, down through his throat and into his lungs…where it ignited inside him.

Danny's body jerked violently upward as fire exploded within his lungs…and then he slumped down, his head wilting to the side, all light fading from his swollen eyes.

"………………………………..No." Sam whispered.

She suddenly found she had control of her form again, as Sizzle drew herself up even further, her entire body appearing above Sam's now, though the red tendrils still drifted down, attached to the teenage girl, as Sam pulled herself off Danny, staring in utter horror at the boy she had…loved…the boy Sizzle had destroyed.

The boy who had born the brunt of the sins of mankind, real and imagined.

"Danny…" Sam whispered, as fresh tears slipped from her eyes, as she reached out and touched his face, his horribly battered face, the pain he took for her, because he wouldn't fight back and let her come to harm…

And then Sizzle started to laugh, long and loud, as she threw back her head and laughed to the heavens, as if she was mocking God. And she probably was. He was usually portrayed as male.

"Danny…oh Danny…" Sam whispered.

And then the rage re-awoke in her, as she stood up. She knew she could not strike her enemy, or harm her in any way…but she still had her voice, and if she could do anything she would speak.

"Well, are you HAPPY?" Sam screamed. "ARE YOU HAPPY YOU ABOMINATION! YOU CRAZY SICK MONSTEROUS THING! IS YOUR ROTTEN HEART FINALLY SATED?"

Sizzle's laughter had been dying off, as she slipped down to face Sam again, like she had before. Her face was not encased in rage, or mad joy…but rather something even worse. Pity.

"No. I'm not happy." Sizzle said. "Because I can't be happy."

Sam had no answer to this, even as twin pairs of fresh tears leaked from her eyes. Sizzle's flaming hand reached out and scooped one off the face, somehow keeping it from evaporating.

"I can't be sad either. I only have one feeling child. That pain that flows through your being? Imagine it being a thousand times worse. That is my existence. All I have comes from that. All I have is my rage and my agony. I can't make it go away! I can't escape it! I couldn't leave it behind even after I died! It's my entire subsistence, the only reason I still exist! Happy? I can't be happy child. You think you've seen me happy? All you see is just a façade, a cheap illusion of the real thing. How can you feel something you have no idea how to feel?" Sizzle asked.

"……..Why…why…" Was all Sam could say.

"Because I have to. It has to be done. They all have to pay for it. All mankind. They ruined this world, this sex, and they ruined me. And now I'm going to do the only thing I can do: I'M GOING TO RUIN THEM!" Sizzle screamed as she suddenly shifted forward, engulfing Sam, and her eyes showed shock before the look faded, as Sizzle banished Sam deep into the recesses and told full control of her body. She didn't need the girl any more: she had punished Danny Fenton for defying her, and his body lay at her feet, worthless garbage now. Now she had to bring his fate to all his kind, every last one of them.

But she figured she'd wring one last bit of blood from her stone, as she turned a bit and stepped up to Danny's limp form, his lungs melted to cellular scrap in his chest, his heart an exploded sack of dead flesh. Or at least that was what Sizzle assumed, but she knew full well what heat did to a human body.

She smirked. It had been worth the wait. Now to give his soul a rocket boost to the nine gates.

"Pucker up your nose girlfriend!" Sizzle said, her being framing Sam's face with another giant sick smile, a false smile with nothing behind it but the torment that was all she knew, as fire ignited on her hand. "You haven't smelled a burning body until you've smelled one up close! BURN BABY BURN!"

The blue-white blast flew through the air and struck her, and ice instantly formed on Sizzle's body before she could react in any way, sheathing her whole form in less then a second and then growing thicker and thicker until it stopped, a crude structure of ice three feet thick that completely encased Sizzle's body.

For about two seconds, before it began to shake and then exploded off Sizzle as she shattered the ice with a scream, turning furious eyes on the man who had dared shoot her with something so cold.

"Sizzle." Savior said, as he lowered Victor Fries' ice gun.

And then Cyborg thudded down behind Savior. And this wasn't the Cyborg we knew. He was at least twice as tall and wide, his black and metallic head sticking out from the special battle body he had brought just for this occasion. Normally, the HY-Gogg (that's a Gundam if you're curious, look it up, it first appeared in Gundam 0080) shaped battle suit clad in metallic silver was too bulky to use in normal combat…but in this abandoned city, Cyborg had no need to worry. And it resisted heat quite well, which was the original reason Cyborg had brought it. Armed to the teeth with weapons specially modified for this fight, Cyborg lifted his arm as sections snapped open and several kinds of guns emerged.

Starfire floated down on one side, cocking a large metallic gun that looked straight of the MIB movies, as Raven floated down the other side, whispering a few words that caused tendrils of icy wind to blow around her hands.

Sizzle glared at them, the Titans she was sure she had killed…and they met her gaze, as Savior raised both his arms, holding the ice guns of Fries and Leonard Snart, known the world over as Mr. Freeze and Captain Cold.

"We'd like a word with you."

_NOT The End_


	16. Ignipotens: Damnation's Flame

Chapter 16: Damnation's Flame

"Here we may reign secure; and in my choice  
To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell:  
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n."

-Milton, _Paradise Lost_, I

Evil is patient.

Maybe not all the time.

I'm sure there are plenty of cases where evil acted immediately, even prematurely. But in the end…that can be more attributed to the failing of humans then that of the darkness within them. Impatient, greedy, shortsighted, obsessive behavior led to rash action…that may or may not have led to failure.

But those evils…are usually the small ones. True ones are patient.

They will wait.

They will manipulate and control, staying deep in the shadows until it is truly time to bloom, carefully keeping its vessels, knowing and unknowing, on the set path needed for it to become truly strong…

_"She'll do anything."_

_"You sure? My crew and I…"_

_"She's a freak. I think she LIKES being treated that way. Found her on the street. Had her for a while. Any time she says no, I changed her mind. She'll do what you want."_

Another small man, doing his small destructive evils, leading others down the paths of least resistance and corrupted vice, offering them a chance to sate their own darker urges, at the cost of others. Tapping deep into the innate desire, buried deep within all humans, some deeper then others, to harm.

Why we have such a desire is unknown. Perhaps it is a survival tool no longer needed by the human race…yet one that remains…for better or for worse…

Survival is, in the end, what drives virtually all people.

And for some, the drive is mighty indeed. So strong that things like mental sanity and seeking change are snuffed out, crushed, obliterated. Even if your life is hell…some still want to live. And some can find no other way then to stay in that hell…

_Perhaps that explains why we find this girl here, knowing what we know of her future and what we have seen of her past. She has grown older, but her face still seemed caught between that of a girl and a woman, a remarkably lovely face, unscarred and unbattered…but only because the man who believes he owns this woman does not believe in damaging the merchandise…in ways that can be see. The scars lie hidden under clothing…and intertwined with older, rotten ones in the girl's soul._

_Despite what she did, it did not free her. Caught in a world which can be truly merciless and cruel to some, and her body fraught with a despair that would not allow her to just give up and drift away in the dark, her journey to survive eventually ended in the clutches of this man. A man who fed her and clothed her…and extracted a price for such favors that is utterly appalling._

_She knew no other way to live, her lone reaction of rage forgotten in the stress of the moment. She only wanted to survive._

_Until recently…_

_"No."_

_"What you say bitch?"_

_"I've done enough today. No."_

_Evil is patient. It will wait until the time is right. Until so much vile is stored that critical mass is inevitable…_

_"Look you bitch, you DO WHAT I SAY! I OWN YOU! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A PIECE OF MEAT I SAVED FROM THE TRASH! NOW YOU WILL…!"_

_"I SAID NO!"_

_The fire comes again._

_And this time the memories are not obliterated._

_As it all burns around her…and yet all she can see are their looks. The way all men always looked at her. Her father, her male siblings, everyone she has had to take to survive…like she was something they could use and discard. With no consequences. With no cares. With no reason to do either. Why would they? They were the men and she was just the whore. She was trash, they were gods._

_They had power, she had none._

_Until now._

_She does not scream this time: they do._

_The time had finally come. The dam had finally broken._

_Anything that was left of the girl in the being we now know as Sizzle finally died that day._

_And something MEAN was born._

Evil will wait for the right time.

And when it does…the wrong that will be done is far worse…

_Such blazing, angry eyes…_

* * *

Another set of eyes is not blazing with anger. They were the set of the being known as Skulker, as he leaned back from his seat near the front of the "bar". For some reason, perhaps because he had stayed and watched the crystal the whole time, while various other spirits came and went, the bar had dubbed him as some kind of special observer. He hadn't hung around for them: the main point had been to do recon for his next hunt for the ghost child and fire spirit, but the longer the battle went on, the more Skulker sensed there might be something greater afoot. So he had stayed, even after the battle had ended, plotting and theorizing about that future hunt, and others, while he waited on his hunch that something else was yet to come…perhaps bigger then anything before. 

And it seemed like the other spirits of the Ghost Zone had felt it as well, as they had all eventually been drawn back. Now the entire bar was filled with ghosts, specters, and other supernatural beings, all watching the crystals in the bar like humans would gather to watch a big boxing match. Except this was far, far more important then a battle of the "Sweet Science"…

And yet, as Sizzle stood up from her final destruction of Danny Fenton and laughed, Skulker leaned back and sighed, wondering if he had all been wrong. His hunch had revolved around the boy…and now he was gone, destroyed by the lunatic fire spirit.

"…The ghost child is dead." Skulker said to himself, with just a slight twinge of sorrow, more because he could never hunt the Halfa now then from any respect he had felt for Danny. He leaned back some more, into his chair, and watched the fire spirit laugh, wondering what came next. While most of the ghosts in the Ghost Zone grudgingly got along or at least tolerated each other, Sizzle was clearly going not going to do that. Like Walker, the female apparition was hostile to everyone except herself, but while Walker just wanted order among the supernatural realms, Sizzle wanted the destruction of all mankind and anyone who struck her fancy.

He would have to consult Vlad about this problem. The only remaining Halfa, or so it seemed, would most likely be the ruler of this reality and the human one soon: Skulker wanted to stay in his good graces. But surely the Primmortal would be able to deal with Sizzle: she was just a crazy woman who had been so obsessed with rage and hate that she couldn't even let them go of them when she had died. Vlad was…so much more, or would be.

"The ghost child is dead." Skulker said, this time to the bar as he stood up and turned around.

"O-Oh W-W-W-Who cuh-cuh-cares?" Ember managed to stammer out, her teeth chattering violently as she sat at her table, several blankets wrapped around her and her feet in hot, er, essence energy, as water didn't really exist in the Ghost Zone. While Ember didn't really feel things like a human, in a way that had make the minus 200 plus temperatures of space worse: it would have killed a human in seconds, but Ember, not human and yet and cursed with some of the feelings of humans, had had to endure such utter cold all the way back to Earth. The end result for her was much like a human who had come in from a bitterly icy winter night without the proper clothing. "S-suh-stupid kid sho-shu-shu-should have b-b-backed down when he could. He got wuh-wuh-wuh-what he should have seen c-coming."

"All the same…I, Technus, never thought it would end like this." The technological master said from his own chair. "Despite the fact that he was always foiling I, Technus' plans…I do not think he deserved that."

"Crazy freak." Johnny 13 said from his table, in regards to Sizzle. After all he had watched…he was holding Kitty's hand just a tad bit tighter. What Sizzle had done, through Sam, to Danny…it chilled him to the bones he technically no longer had.

"He suffered what he earned." Said Desiree. "He placed his hands on a woman who was mightier then him, and he paid the…" The wish granting ghost's voice trailed off when she noticed most of the bar was glaring at her. "Do not act so superior! You all despised him, in some way or another! Is this not exactly what you WISHED to befall him?"

"Not like that." Skulker said, as he turned back and looked at the crystal, where the Titans had appeared. "Those costumed humans are on the scene."

"But zounds! If Danny Phantom could not defeat her, who stands a change against the terrible, box-burning Sizzle? I mean, really, beware!" Said the Box Ghost.

"I guess we'll find out." Skulker said as he sat back down to watch the following battle. Well, if he had lost the chance to hunt the ghost child, he might at least get the satisfaction of seeing his killer brought down. Maybe the Titans would prove worthy to hunt when Vlad attained his full power…

* * *

Vlad Plasmius, much like his soon to be subordinates, was also intently watching the battle, back in ghost form, his fingers crossed before his face as he sat on his chair, power shimmering around him, a dark haze that permeated the room and his entire castle, a shroud of black that spoke of authority and control, power Vlad was contently let flow through him, power that he was destined to master…and it was that power that kept him from being sad about Danny's death. He would have been a fine son…but when he fully ascended to his rightful might, Vlad could make as many sons as he wanted. 

And if the crazy spirit who had dared burn his arm succeeded in killing the Titans, then he would take great joy in destroying her. But for now, he would watch. He was not concerned. His destiny was already written: all that remained was the execution. Literally and figuratively.

His mouth smirked cruelly, as his eyes faintly glowed…

* * *

Vlad's expression was mirrored in Sizzle's, though her countenance was false: no real joy lurked behind the smile, just a quiet desperation to stop hurting and the anger that the endless pain fueled. 

"Well well, what have we here." She said, as she brought up a hand and absently cracked Sam's fingers, popping the air from the joints in a painful sounding way. "I could have sworn I put enough behind that blast to burn you all. Instead you come back, this time with a few pistols filled with water from the fridge."

Savior replied with actions, as he aimed his other freeze gun at Sizzle, the Captain Cold one, and fired another blast of freezing power, a specially designed ray that would seize control of all the molecules it struck and slow them down, instantly and immensely, combined with a deep chill that would result in the formation of varying degrees of ice.

The ray never made it this time: Sizzle raised her hand and clenched her fingers, and a shimmering wall of heat appeared before her, the ray striking it and the two canceling each other out.

"Heh-heh." Sizzle chuckled. "HAHHHHH!"

The heat haze suddenly expanded, and the Titans were buffeted by immensely hot winds and burning bits of loose grass, paper, and anything else the heat could ignite. All the Titans except Cyborg recoiled from the blast, and his face grimaced.

"You still wish to join this foolish boy in hell? I can certainly grant that wish! Prepare to feel the burn!" Sizzle said, and increased the heat haze/wave tenfold in a giant burst, shoving the Titans back.

And Sizzle leapt up, doing a 360 backwards flip in the air and stopping in an upright position as her essence erupted around and above Sam, growing larger, stronger, fiercer, as Sizzle placed a fist on her side and laughed mockingly, floating in mid air, her power shimmering around her as the Titans recovered.

"Close in, surround her, swarm her, Titans, GO!" Savior ordered, and the Titans split up, aiming weapons and limbs.

"Please. E-YAH!" Sizzle yelled, as she suddenly slammed downward, her fist striking the ground, and fire exploded in a gigantic eruption around her, throwing all the Titans away like rag dolls and sending Danny's body flying.

Sizzle flew from the eruption of flame and set her sights on her first target: Starfire. The alien girl eyes' widened as the heat spirit in the body of Sam flew up next to her, and she tried to direct her large freeze ray at Sizzle, but she hadn't had much practice in the weapon and she had only managed a half hearted aim before Sizzle thrust out a hand and sent off a giant stream of fire. Starfire watched for half a second and then decided her body could take the heat better then the gun and whirled around. The blast smashed into her like a battering ram, sending her flying forward with a scream before she crashed into the upper floors of a building and the entire top of it erupted and collapsed into a conflagration, as the battle moved from Sam's back yard to the streets of Amity Park.

Danny's limp form was just about to hit the ground when white lines of power caught it, Savior reeling the teen in. His eyes, while hard, also showed a certain mourning, as he laid Danny down and checked for a pulse. He found none.

"Oh kid…" Savior said out loud, and then he was aware of a great crashing as Cyborg came down from a jump, having become Sizzle's next foe. Savior looked at the larger then usual robot, and then back at Danny, as he gently closed the teenager's eyes.

"I'll get her for this Danny. I'll take this atrocity right out of any and all hides she may manifest!" Savior snarled, and then leapt away from the prone form of the teen.

"Ohhh, look! You should know damn well bigger never means better in this world of mine!" Sizzle yelled, as she formed twin fireballs and hurled them at the massive robot. The balls exploded against him, but the robot body didn't budge an inch, as Cyborg lifted one of his arms and four micro-gatling guns emerged. Sizzle looked at the weapon and then scoffed.

"What are you going to do, SHOOT ME?" Sizzle laughed. "Go ahead! Kill the host! That's all you do! Go ahead, shoot!"

"You're only half right." Cyborg replied, and opened fire.

Sizzle screamed as several dozen small but potent impacts slammed across her body, knocking her to the ground with a crash.

"Booyah! How do you like my special bullets bitch? My own rubber/wax blend! They won't kill you, but I'm damn sure they're noticeable!" Cyborg whooped, and fired off another burst. Sizzle rolled and then shoved off the ground and back into the air, avoiding the projectiles as they raked across the ground.

"ARGH! YOU FUCK!" She screamed, as she thrust out her hands, forming a fireball that quickly expanded to the size of a small car, flying off towards Cyborg. But twin beams of ice intercepted the sphere, and the angry red blaze quickly transmuted into an icy-white, as Cyborg swung back his fist and smashed the ball right back towards Sizzle, who yelled and dodged out of the way…and found herself flying right into those same twin beams, the freezing blasts covering her right side in ice. Yelling in rage again, Sizzle formed a fire spear and hurled it at the source of the beams, Savior, who stopped his firing to do a Shimmer assisted leaping cartwheel out of the way. Shattering the ice on her form, Sizzle had just started to turn again when another line of impact bullets raked across her back, and with another scream she turned and fixed hateful eyes on Cyborg, who just smiled and aimed up his other arm as parts began to split apart and reconnect.

"You think his ice guns are bad, wait till you see mine! Bigger IS better!" Cyborg yelled.

Sizzle's eyes blazed, and then the anger faded back into amusement.

And then she lanced down and slammed into the ground again, and a giant eruption of fire exploded from beneath Cyborg, sending the huge robot flying backwards, Cyborg bellowing in surprise, as the giant battle droid crashed into the side of another building.

"It's not the size of the boat, it's the motion in the explosion, asshole." Sizzle snapped, and fired off twin balls of flame that smashed into Cyborg. The robot was still up against the shattered wall, and the blasts shoved him even farther back into the building, the further damage causing the structure to collapse on top of him in a giant crash of noise and dust.

An ice beam barely missed her, and Sizzle turned as Savior dashed at her, firing quick shots, but he wasn't experienced at running and shooting, and most of them were missing. Sizzle smirked again, and then held out an arm. A giant whip of flame erupted on it, and Sizzle lashed out. Savior leapt high into the air to avoid it, as the giant whip tore into the sides of several buildings and caused eruptions of fire wherever it struck, as Savior tried to aim in mid air…

And suddenly found Sizzle was out of his sight. His eyes darted around…

She was below him. And coming up fast.

"OH SHIT!"

Sizzle struck, using her fiery haze around Sam and a whirling spin while she was jumping to turn a simple leaping uppercut into a multiple-strike impact that sent Savior flying off into the distance with a scream. Sizzle flew up, grinning as Savior crashed into the roof of a building a few blocks away.

"SHINryuken." Sizzle said.

The fiery girl turned around to find a car encased in dark energy flying at her. Sizzle blew it out of the sky with a look, the car splitting apart into fiery metal and flying around and past her as Raven was revealed.

"Ah, time to go four for four!" Sizzle said, as she brought her hands up, formed a fireball, and hurled it at Raven.

Raven didn't run: instead she floated there, chanting under her breath, until the fireball was just about to hit her…

"ENTOMBIS FREIZUA!" Raven yelled, as her entire right arm glowed blue, and then she rapidly swung it back and forward, actually striking the fireball and sending it back towards Sizzle, who looked a bit surprised at this.

"You're sending the fireball back to the master of flame? Ok, fine!" Sizzle said, as her fireball returned to her, as she too swung back her arm and whacked it back at Raven, this time a little faster.

Raven, still chanting, whacked it back again, speeding it up more.

Sizzle repeated the motion again: the fireball was now going quite fast.

Raven smashed it back: it flew like a bullet…

Sizzle returned it once more, like a lightning bolt…

Raven disappeared into the shadows, as the fireball flew into her shadowy power and vanished. Sizzle's eyes widened, and then the fireball returned, from a shadow portal, now tainted with dark energy, BEHIND Sizzle. The blast struck her and dark power surged out over her body, as Sizzle found herself momentarily frozen.

An apt expression, as Starfire returned, her large gun braced against her shoulder, as she fired at the prone Sizzle. Her larger gun allowed her several options Savior was denied, one of which was a much easier "switch to alter" interface that allowed her to instantly change the type of shots. Her beam fired out, but instead of freezing Sizzle, it struck her like a hammer, an immensely cold hammer, and blue power raged over the black tendrils that Raven had blasted against Sizzle. Her scream increased, and she tumbled to the ground, Sam falling to her knees as the red haze above her thrashed.

Savior dropped down onto the street nearby and hit the ground running, holding his hands up as Shimmer lines flowed from them. Two more lines came from his waist, holding the freeze guns, and Savior fired the rays, not at Sizzle, but at the Shimmer lines coming from his hands. The Shimmer couldn't be frozen…but it could be chilled, right down to near absolute zero, as Savior ran up to Sizzle as she tried to collect her wits and get her host back on the attack.

Savior slashed out the lines, and they flew through Sizzle's haze body, but Sizzle clearly felt the cold, as she screamed. Savior took that as a hint that it was working and slashed again, and again, as Sam's body recoiled back due to Sizzle's agonies.

"ARGH! YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Sizzle screamed, as she fired a wild fire burst. Savior dodged away from it via a roll, coming up to his knees as one of the freeze guns was returned to his hand.

"Keep my mother out of this." He replied, as he froze Sizzle on the spot, making another ice statue. He stood up…

The ice Sizzle was encased in exploded, far quicker then the teen had expected, as a flaming hand reached out from Sizzle's arm and grabbed Savior, and as the teen bellowed in pain, the fiery appendage burning him, Sizzle slashed out her arm and sent Savior flying. Raven, a tad bit late, flew in to help, as did Starfire, but Sizzle dodged out of the way of their freeze ray and ice spell and countered with twin fireballs that blew the female Titans out of the air.

Savior was tumbling to the ground, still out of control, when a giant hand grabbed him. Savior blinked, and then the world righted itself as the hand twirled, Cyborg setting Savior upright.

"Thanks Victor." Savior said, and then repeated the machine-man's actions as he stopped Raven's own tumbling flight with a Shimmer line. "How are the heat readings?"

"Still in the green, for now." Cyborg replied.

"Where's the Oxygen Destroyer?"

"Carefully stowed in a back compartment, heavily shielded. Why, you want to bust it out NOW?"

"No! It's pointless as long as Sizzle is in Sam! We have to get Sizzle out of Sam first!"

"Oh great…how are we supposed to do that?"

"I'm not sure. She clearly doesn't like the cold, but…dammit! I don't know! I'm making this up as I go along!" Savior cursed.

"Aren't we all." Cyborg replied grimly, as he let Savior down and headed for Sizzle, his suit stomping holes in the concrete. Savior saw Raven floating above him and raised himself up on Shimmer stilts to her side.

"You ok?" Raven asked.

"For now. But Sizzle…damn her." Savior cursed, as Cyborg waded into an immense stream of fire, his guns having had to retract under the onslaught to avoid being melted into uselessness, as he swatted at Sizzle, but Sizzle proved to be too fast, dodging away from the blows and sending a barrage of fireballs down on Cyborg. Cyborg raised his arms and they split apart, forming a new shield that guarded his head from the downpour, as the street shattered and cars exploded around him. "Raven, can you get close and Vulcan Mind Meld or something with Sizzle, maybe force her out…"

"No. I checked that. However Sizzle got into Sam, she's in deep. She'd fry me before I could get enough interference to get her out."

"Shit!" Savior cursed. "All right then, keep up the assault! I'm not going to let Danny's death be in vain, or a precursor to anything!" Savior snapped, as he fired out twin Shimmer lines and swung in, even as Starfire returned and fired a piecing beam of ice at Sizzle.

Raven watched for a second, confused.

"…Death?" She said. Was Danny dead? He hadn't been moving when the Titans had stopped Sizzle from incinerating him…but Raven hadn't felt his life energy suddenly wink out, the way it had before with people Raven was close to died suddenly and violently. But come to think of it…she couldn't really feel his essence, she'd been too caught up in the battle to notice…

A building was exploding, and Savior was leaping to catch Starfire, and while he was occupied with that Sizzle was making a beeline for the both of them. Raven's brow narrowed, and then she flew in towards the fight, siding with Savior's mindset that if Danny was gone, he wouldn't go un-avenged.

Or alone.

* * *

Alone… 

It was strange, really. The darkness seemed absolute, but if that had been the case, Danny wouldn't have been able to see anything. Yet he could see himself, as he slowly drifted down in slow spirals, still a bit fuzzy headed. What was going on? Where was he? And why did…

And then it came back to him: the possession, the beating, the agony…and Sizzle smirking down at him as she unleashed her fire…and then…

"HUUUAAAGHHHHHHHH!" Danny yelled, as he tried to stop his movement in the absolute-yet-not blackness…and found himself doing so. He blinked, trying to clear his head and figure just what…

"Well, see you finally put it together."

Danny turned at the voice…and recoiled in surprise.

"What?" Said the figure…him. The black suited, white haired green eyed him. He looked rather amused. "I'd ask you if you'd seen a ghost, but that seems rather beside the point, wouldn't you say?"

"Uhhhhhh…" Danny said, still trying to process everything. "What, huh, who…who are you?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm YOU." Danny Phantom replied. "Well, sort of. I'm the part of you that was brought into existence when your human biology suddenly occupied the same space as supernatural energy. You're lucky you know: the average human probably would have had a stroke."

"What? Huh?" Danny said, looking around. Though he could see no light, he could see himself clearly, as well as his ghost alter, whom we will call Phantom. And seeing Phantom, as well as the strange place he was in…a sudden, terrible thought occurred to Danny.

"Oh god, am I dead?" He gasped.

"No…no, not exactly." Phantom replied.

"But…Sizzle…she shot fire down my throat, I…how can I be alive?" Danny asked. He didn't want to be dead, but now that he remembered how the battle had gone, he really had to wonder why.

"You didn't want to die." Phantom replied.

"Oh great. Are you going to give me nothing but cryptic nonsense? That's not what I would do, me! Come on!" Danny complained.

"Despite your pain, your desire to live was immensely strong, especially since what Sizzle did to you involved Sam. The way it was hurting her, perhaps even more then it was hurting you…that helped. And you are aware that in your ghost form, united with me, you can form shields."

"But…I didn't…"

"Your conscious mind didn't. It was too wracked with pain. But your subconscious mind could read your desire to survive, for your sake and Sam's…and when Sizzle shot her fire down your throat, it acted accordingly. Your power…me, you might say, formed a last second shield inside your lungs. Sizzle's fire may have been a physical gift, and physical in and of itself when she was alive, but as a spirit, the very act of keeping her power imbued it with a supernatural aspect…an aspect that allowed you to block the flame and keep it from destroying your lungs. Not that there weren't consequences to Sizzle's actions, of course. Doing such a delicate operation at the last possible moment has its penalties, not to mention that the air ignited in your lungs and sent a shockwave through your body. Basically, your unique physiology suffered the equivalent of a power surge, knocking it "offline". The state, for you, manifests itself like death. But you're not dead. Your body is basically rebooting itself. It takes a little while, but once it's finished you will return to the land of the living. You won't even suffer any brain damage from the whole not breathing thing, as a bonus. Unless, of course, Sizzle burns you to ash while you're helpless, but hey, such special things like preventing your own immolation are never without cost, or risk." Phantom said, crossing his arms. His rather unconcerned look at the possibility that after he had managed to save Danny, Sizzle could just roast his body and finish her job of killing him shocked the teen…and Phantom seemed to read that from his expression.

"What? You think I'm worried about death? That's your job Danny. I've never BEEN alive. I suddenly just existed, and not in a way like you. I may be a part of you…but it's not a part connected to your living side. How can you be concerned about death when you're never been alive to begin with?" Phantom pointed out.

"But…if I die, you'll go with me!" Danny stammered.

"Perhaps, but I never asked to be created. I just was. My end will be the same: I can fight it and delay it, but it will come to me eventually. So why worry about it, especially when I CAN'T prevent it? For now anyway."

Though the seemingly callous attitude still chilled Danny, he had to admit he had a point.

"How long until I finish, er, rebooting or whatever?" Danny said, looking around.

"Why?" Phantom replied. Danny looked back at Phantom, incredulous.

"Why? You should know! If I'm still alive, I can still fight!"

"No, you can't."

"WHAT?"

"Your body's a mess. Your power is still exhausted. What, you thought that coming back from the brink would offer an instant recharge on top of the whole not being a vegetable thing? Forget it Danny. You just barely escaped death's grasp. Operative word being BARELY."

"But…but…"

"And even IF you could recharge your power, it's not like it matters. Sizzle is beyond your abilities."

"NO! I have to save Sam! I have to fight…!"

"How are you going to save Sam? Overshadow her? You couldn't get Sizzle out of PAULINA, and that was just a normal possession. Sizzle's essence extends far deeper now, like a cancer in every part of Sam's body. She's trapped in Sizzle's grip, most likely forever."

Danny stared in horror.

"And even if you could figure out a plan…you'd never carry it out Danny. Sizzle's just too powerful, too angry, too out of control. Savior said she was pure chaos force, and he was right. You've only escaped so far because of luck. If you decide to engage her again…this little mercy won't be the result. Not again. The result will be your real, final death. Sizzle will blow you out like a birthday candle. No Danny. There won't be any comeback for you. You've already lost."

* * *

Explosions blasted across the rooftop, as Savior ran for his life: trying to leap out of the way… 

He escaped the flame, but not the shockwave, as it smacked him and sent him flying, out of control. And he found that since he was above open ground, there were no buildings to grab onto (he had actually been tossed back into the Manson's large backyard)…and no Raven or Starfire to catch him as Sizzle had just knocked THEM down before she had attacked Savior. In terms of landing, he was up shit creek without a paddle.

But then again, why was that so surprising? This whole battle was that. No matter what they did, the only thing they accomplished was making Sizzle angrier. And that just resulted in…

Savior crashed down onto the tool shed Sizzle had appropriated her rake and firewood from, the structure shattering under him and burying him in debris and paraphernalia.

It resulted in things like that.

Savior groaned, trying to collect himself and see if anything had been stuck through body parts that wouldn't do well to be ventilated.

"Damn…how…in the hell…can we win?" He muttered in his daze.

* * *

He was not surprised to see her when he turned around. 

"I thought we were going to lay low." Maddie Fenton said to her husband. She looked remarkably well considering what had happened to her several hours ago: Sizzle's inadvertent brainwipe when the possession was broken and the whole unconsciousness thing afterward probably helped with that. But while Maddie didn't recall her part in this terrible drama, she still remembered that there was something extremely nasty out there in Amity Park, something she and Jack had set out to stop before whatever had happened to her had occured. That knowledge had only been reinforced when they left the hospital and found the last few stragglers leaving Amity Park: questions to the stragglers on why they were doing so had resulted in evasive answers that Maddie immediately knew came from people who didn't have a rational reason for their actions but didn't care, because their primal senses were screaming danger and they weren't hanging around to find out just what that danger might be.

But Maddie wasn't going to join them in running. Instead, they'd headed back to the Fenton Household, with a vague plan to check their scanners for trouble while they formulated a new plan due to the loss of the F.U.M.B.L.E. But said scanners originated the new plan in the end when they started going nuts, reading an immense power signal that was undoubtedly, indubitably a ghost. The sheer power had, at first, even given Jack pause, and she and him had decided they would simply turn on the ghost shields and defenses in and around their house (what did you think that huge crazy metal thing on top of their house was?) and see what happened. But when the power spiked even more…Jack had said he needed to use the bathroom. He had never been a good liar, but Maddie had given him the benefit of the doubt and waited ten minutes before she had gone down to the basement, where Jack was just finishing up loading himself with anti-ghost weaponry. He even had the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick, which was just a baseball bat (with the word Fenton on it!).

"I can't lay low for this Maddie." Jack replied, his eyes serious. It was a rare expression for the large man, who seemed like an overeager child most of the time…but Maddie knew her husband better then all his naysayers.

"It's too big. You and Jazz are in danger…and Danny…even IF he left with his friend Sam…" Jack said (Noel had made that call after all, in an attempt to distract himself from his melancholy after the Danny/Sam argument. It hadn't worked, in the distraction part anyway: good thing Raven had shown up soon after). "I can't stay here. Even if the Fenton Ultimate Mobile Ballistics Logistics Equalizer is gone…we still have plenty of weapons. I have to go out and stop this, if I can. I swore to defend the world from ghosts…now its time to put up or shut up, and Jack Fenton NEVER shuts up."

"You're not going."

"Maddie…"

"Not without me." Maddie said, as she walked over and pressed a button on the wall, and a section flipped open with several new rows of ghost weaponry. Jack might have emptied one wall…but just one wall.

"Maddie…you…I don't want to lose you…" Jack said.

"Don't, Jack Fenton. Not now. You never pulled any chivalry nonsense, and that's one of the reasons I married you. You think your desire is unique? I'm not letting that spirit harm my family either." Maddie said, as she began loading herself down with armaments.

"But Maddie…"

The sound of an engine starting up caught Jack's attention, and then another wall slid open, and the Fenton RV drove through. Jack blinked, wondering if his car had suddenly become possessed…and then it stopped beside them.

"Get in. You need to drive this, I just have my learner's permit and you need a special license to drive something like this." Jazz said from the driver's seat.

"Jazz? What are you doing?"

"I'm coming too." Jazz said.

"But you don't believe in ghosts!"

"No, but I believe in evil. And whatever is in this town is a pure form of it. One that won't hesitate to harm us. When it comes to disbelieving pacifism or skeptical decisions, I'll side with the latter. Get in Dad." Jazz replied, as the side to the Fenton RV opened up.

Jack watched for a few more seconds, and then a grin, almost cocky, slid across his face.

"All right! The Fenton family, united and mobilized! I'd never thought I'd see the day! That ghost doesn't have a chance! I just wish Danny could be here!" Jack said, as he bounded in.

"Oh, he might be closer then you think Dad." Jazz replied, as she pulled a gun off the wall of the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle and cocked it. "Yeah, he's probably here in spirit. Let's roll."

* * *

The Fentons might be confident, but the Titans, and especially not Cyborg, didn't share their confidence, as the robot pushed himself up from where he had landed. The streets blazed around him, but Cyborg was more worried about the meters he saw when he closed his mechanical eye: meters reading the stress of his heat shields, meters that had crept up to yellowish orange and weren't going back down. His battle body was tough, but it didn't do him much good if he was taking all the hits and dishing out none in return, thanks to Sizzle's damn possession and their virtual inability to harm the fire ghost while at the same time risking the life and limbs of Sam…unwilling, poor Sam… 

Cyborg grimaced. Well, it might not be going well, but he hadn't used all his tricks yet!

And then he leapt backwards as a massive fireball came down where he had been standing. Fire exploded upward from the impact, blasting up and past the burning buildings as Cyborg landed several dozen feet away. Then the fire contracted and faded, as Sizzle reappeared in the heart of the mass: she'd covered herself in flame and thrown herself at Cyborg like a missile.

And speaking of missiles, Cyborg's arm was opening up to show a large missile launcher. Sizzle just looked amused. She was very good at doing that, the truth behind her feelings notwithstanding.

"Rockets?" She asked incredulously.

Indeed, dozens of them, fired off at Sizzle at high speed. Sizzle just floated there, feeling the closest thing to tickled that she could. What was the point of this? Even if the EXPLOSIONS, made of FIRE, could harm her in any way, it would just kill the host. Had they decided Sam was expendable? How delightfully, disgustingly male.

She'd play their game better though, as she waved her hands at the approaching missiles.

They all exploded.

And Sizzle realized too late that was exactly what Cyborg had planned.

As she was suddenly assaulted by intense waves of force, ultra-dense sonics that her ears couldn't hear but her body certainly could FEEL, as the insanely precise resonance reverberated through her body. Much like crystal could shatter at a precise pitch, this sound was designed to do the rough equivalent to a human being, and while humans couldn't BREAK, they could certainly be rattled, and even Sizzle, connected to Sam in the precise way she was, felt the immense dichotomizing force tear through her host's body, making the muscles and bones she needed to move feel like jelly. There had been no explosives in the missiles, just these sound bombs that she had inadvertently set off, sound that was now making her previous rattling at the hand of the seismic blasters in the Fenton-copter seem like a slight muscle twitch.

Her power kept Sam's body afloat though, even as it felt like it was being turned inside out, and Cyborg acted, as he charged in. He knew that his weapons were ultimately just mosquito bites to someone like Sizzle, designed to bruise and disorient but unable to cause any serious harm, while her fire certainly could melt him, given time…and that meant he had to take a chance. He had to try and knock Sam out, and to do that, he would need a great blow…a blow he had to try and deliver without breaking her neck or smashing her skull. But his skill with mechanics was great, and he knew he could deliver such a blow, even with his huge metal hands…though he'd most likely give her a severe concussion, but you couldn't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs…

Cyborg reached Sizzle, swinging his hand up…

And found fire, as Sizzle recovered, far quicker then he had predicted she could, and cut loose. The terrible heat washed over him, as he found his body being pushed backwards, the entire street exploding as the gigantic fire blast expanded to fill it, blasting up into the air and through the sides of the buildings and causing them to collapse, as Cyborg crashed into the brownstones at the end of the street and sent them both toppling down onto him.

"Heh. Close, you metallic fuck. But not close enough." Sizzle snarled, as she raised a hand and fire exploded anew on it, glowing brilliantly white. THIS flame would melt him into a river of destroyed flesh and molten steel…

Starfire flew in, a giant flash of bluish white energy freezing Sizzle…but only her lower half. Then again, that was enough to disrupt Sizzle's forming of the white fireball…but not enough to keep Sizzle from retaliating, as she turned and fired another blast of fire at the attacking alien. It took her in the shoulder before she could properly defend, and Starfire yelled as she lost her hold of her massive gun, which flew from her hands and down into the flaming buildings below. She glared back at Sizzle as the fire spirit melted the ice on her lower half away, like it had never been.

"I need no weapon! For what you have done, MY RAGE IS ENOUGH!" Starfire yelled, and thrust out her hands as she fired a bombardment of Starbolts, which crashed into Sizzle.

"Starbolts? STARBOLTS?" Sizzle yelled, not even budging. "You stupid alien bitch, HEAT ENERGY SUSTAINS ME!" She yelled as she flew from the explosion, zapping up and grabbing Starfire by the throat before the girl even knew what was happening. "Your Starbolts, pathetic as they are, merely make me STRONGER!"

And Sizzle proved it, as she hurled Starfire down into the concrete street like a meteor, sending a wave of force out that sent smoking shards of stone and other granites spraying everywhere. The impact rang through Starfire's body, dazing her…and then she recovered, started to get up…and screamed as a massive blast of flame came down on her. Sizzle's previous massive blast of flame against Cyborg had reduced the buildings on the street to flaming, sagging hulks, and the blast Sizzle brought down on Starfire finished the job, as the burning buildings around the alien shattered from the explosion, collapsing around the ruined street as Sizzle laughed and laughed…

And then dark energy swirled into being around her, enveloping her before she knew what was going on, the dark power forming into the shape of a raven. Raven had pulled out a move she rarely used: her soul self, a dark power that took all the negative and poisonous things that a being had done and fed them back to them…at least if it worked. Which it didn't, as the shadowy raven shape only existed for a few seconds before light streaked from it, and then the energy was blasted into nothing as fire shot out and consumed it. Raven was sent flying back, shrieking, as Sizzle reappeared in the middle of her own fiery bird shape, a true phoenix come to life, except this phoenix wasn't interested in life, but death, as Raven spiraled down to the ground and Sizzle went after her.

Raven got control of herself and landed…and then a blade of flame slashed down. Raven zapped to the side, part of her cloak disintegrating as she barely avoided the deadly controlled fire. And she wasn't out of the woods yet, as her dodge brought her towards a lashing flame whip. Raven vanished into her shadow power, as the whip ripped up the ground where she had just been. The sorceress reappeared higher up in the air…and screamed as Sizzle slammed into her from above, a powerful arcing kick slamming into her spine and sending her crashing down into the dirt with a powerful thud.

Raven tried getting back up…and found Sizzle had floated down in front of her, her hand snapping out, seizing Raven with terrible strength, lifting her up easily as the hand contracted even more, crushing the goth's throat as she tried to get air into her lungs.

"You're the one who killed me. I want you to see what that's like, right up close." Sizzle said, as she continued to squeeze…

* * *

"WHAT!" Danny finally said. "What do you mean I've already lost! How can you, a part of me, think that?" 

"I'm just a part of you Danny, not you in and of yourself." Phantom replied. "But I am the part that is separated from your emotions, and hence sees the truth behind them. Sizzle can't be stopped. She's too strong."

"Bull! I fought her before, I did…alright…"

"Your first battles were with a spirit that was readjusting to her newfound state. There's a difference between being a ghost in the Ghost Zone and being one in this place of existence, believe me. That is why you were able to survive: she wasn't fully sure of what she could do. But Sizzle's fully adjusted now. And her rage has only grown since her failure to kill you…grown, mutated, turned into something so ugly I can barely believe it. And it's pushed her to a peak you can't touch. She's too powerful for you to beat. That is simply the way it is."

"So what should I do? Run away?"

"If you want to live, I would suggest it."

"NO! If I run, Sizzle could slaughter thousands! How dare you suggest such cowardice against something like her!"

"If you don't run, you will die, and she will slaughter thousands anyway. How dare you suggest such abject stupidity against something like her." Phantom replied.

Danny stared, his eyes filled with a sudden despair. So, when all the chips were down…he WAS just a useless rookie, little more then a target for a psychotic destroying force…

………….NO. He was not that. And he would not believe it.

"…All right then. I don't need you. Let me out of here!" Danny yelled.

"You tell me to be gone? Danny, the only reason you could fight her was because of me, of what we become when we combine. I have told you that that is not enough. You alone…that is hopeless." Phantom replied.

"Screw you! Screw you and your heartless rationale! I won't run away! I won't! I'll fight her with my bare hands if I have to!" Danny said, as he whirled and stomped off.

"You'll die." Phantom said.

"If I run now, I'll die every day." Danny replied. "If I die now…I may not live in a physical sense, but in the way that counts, I will live forever."

"Hmmmm." Phantom said. "Noble sentiments…but in the terms of harsh facts, pointless. You can't beat her. You don't have the power."

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT POWER!" Danny screamed. "I care about my friends, my family, my town, all the people Sizzle hurt in her nihilistic sickness! She has to be stopped, and even if I can't do it, even if I die, I'm not going to give up and go quietly into the night! If someone had stepped up and helped Sizzle before, when she was alive, maybe all this could have been avoided, but no. They all took the path of least resistance. And look what it got the world. Well, I may be the only one who is willing to stand up to her, and even though it may kill me, I'M GOING TO DO IT ANYWAY!"

Danny spun and stalked off, leaving Phantom behind.

For a moment.

"Danny."

Something in the voice gave Danny pause, and he turned back around. Phantom still stood there, his arm still crossed…but his expression had changed. Just a tiny bit…but it was noticeable.

And Danny realized that Phantom never wanted him to give up and run away. He, or himself, just wanted to be sure that Danny didn't want to.

"…I understand." Danny said, as he realized he had just been tested, and passed.

"I thought you would." Phantom replied, nodding slightly. "But Danny…there is something else you must know."

"What?"

"I cannot say it in words. But I can still tell you. Come." Phantom replied, offering his hand. Danny blinked, and then he got the idea, as he walked forward, reached out, and took Phantom's offered hand.

And froze as it bolted through him.

As images poured before his eyes, a stream of pictures and sounds that threatened to overwhelm him…terrible things. Death. Destruction. Ruin. Human beings slaughtered or worse. An endless stream of catastrophe and horror.

This was bad enough…but what was worse was that underneath it was the knowledge that this had not been caused by Sizzle.

"You must understand this." Phantom's voice said in Danny's head, as Danny looked upon all the atrocity he saw with alarm and dismay. "Power plays no favorites. It is but a tool to be used. And while human beings can create wonders…it is not in their nature to do so. Your species says power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely…"

And the images finally came to a giant castle, a grotesque thing that was the size of a small city, as Danny panned through all its rooms in an instant and came…

His eyes widened as far as they could go.

It was him. Sitting on a throne. Except it wasn't him. It was an older him, perhaps in his late twenties or thirties, festooned in a magnificent yet terrible costume, in a court full of prone worshippers or horrible monsters, and at his hand was a rope, a rope that let to a woman…Sam, older too, wearing virtually nothing…and their eyes…Sam's eyes were dead, slack, lifeless, a woman trapped in a reality she had finally tuned completely out of, and his eyes, his green eyes, filled with such a horrible corrupt decadence…

Danny let go of the hand, recoiling back and falling on his rear, gasping for breath, not believing what he had seen…and yet knowing the reality of it.

"You may walk a path, and seek a goal that you think is noble…but your nature…human beings are forever caught between animal and god, and the combination is rarely, if ever, good. That is the price of bearing power. Do you wish to pay it?" Phantom asked.

"What…what…was that my future?" Danny asked.

"No. Just a possibility. That is life as well: possibilities. But I am only showing you what your kind is prone to lead to. Many have sought to bring about ideals higher then their base nature…some were mad, and some went mad. It is the flaw you can never exorcise, Danny. If you wish to return…you may win. And in doing so you may unleash something more monstrous then Sizzle ever was. It is only a possibility…but humans…" Phantom said, and let the last word stand for itself.

Danny knew why, and how it tied into his vision. Humans. They could be such terrible creatures, destroying each other and themselves, or worse, doing their appalling little horrors until they created something like Sizzle. All because they wanted power, in some form or another.

But…

If he was being shown this…

Phantom had said there was no way for Danny to beat Sizzle, and when Danny had refused to give up he had shown him that dreadful vision. But there was a message in there…

Danny looked up at Phantom, who looked back.

"What are you?"

"You. Something else. Possibilities. Inevitabilities. Dreams. Nightmares." Phantom replied. "In the end…it all comes down to you Danny. I am only…what I am. It is up to you define such a thing."

Danny slid over to his knees, as he let the last few images play over his head, such sights, such destruction…and what would be needed to do such a thing.

"Is that what you are?" Danny asked, not needing to verify his question: Phantom was a part of him, and Danny was sure Phantom knew what he meant.

Just as sure that Phantom would remember Danny's fear from the story the Titans had told him just last night, a lifetime ago, of the Martian Manhunter and the darkness within him he was never aware existed until it was too late, and what that darkness did. How it had made Danny afraid of his own power, and what it could do to him. And if he continued on, and took what he believed was possible, even though he had no idea how or where such a thing had come from…what might come of it.

It was another test.

And in the end, Danny did the only thing he could.

"If that is what you are…" Danny repeated.

"I am that. I am other things. I am a paradise. I am a hell. I am a key. I am everything. I am nothing." Phantom replied. "I am only what I am. Do not forget that if you make this choice."

Danny's eyes narrowed.

"This is what you are?" Danny said.

Phantom nodded.

"Then by god, LET'S TURN YOU LOOSE." Danny declared, as he reached out and took Phantom's hand again.

And the darkness exploded in brilliant, magnificent light.

* * *

The light was fading elsewhere, in Raven's eyes: she had been exhaling when Sizzle had grabbed her, and was now unable to take a new breath, needing oxygen to concentrate, to escape, and she couldn't get it, as she looked at Sizzle's mad, grinning face… 

And it went flying through the air.

Sizzle snapped up her hand and grabbed the pair of hedge trimmers, the giant shears stopped a few inches from plunging into Sam's back, as Sizzle glanced over her shoulder at Savior, who had emerged from the wreckage of the tool shed and hurled the deadly blades.

"Nice try." Sizzle replied.

And she hurled the blades back at Savior, a whirling circle of sharp death…

Shimmer strands grabbed the blades by the handle an inch from Savior's face. His expression did not change.

"What was that supposed to accomplish?" Sizzle mocked.

"Turn around and see." Savior replied.

Sizzle arched an eyebrow, and turned…

And Raven breathed out pure icy wind. Savior hadn't been trying to catch Sizzle with the hedge trimmers: he had meant to distract her with them, and cause her to reactively loosen her grip on Raven's throat while her attention was diverted, which had allowed Raven to inhale, and then whisper a few short words to a spell, a spell that turned the carbon dioxide in her lungs, a deadly poison to her, into a deadly poison for Sizzle, an icy essence she exhaled directly into Sizzle's face. Sizzle screamed, her hand letting go of Raven as she thrashed around due to the up close nature of the attack: it had affected her like Savior's chilled Shimmers had, except more so. Raven warped away from the agonizing spirit and reappeared next to Savior, taking deep breaths.

Savior was about to ask if Raven was ok: Starfire interrupted him as she dropped down next to the two, battered and burned but still willing and able. The three looked at each other, and then back at Sizzle, who was still going nuts. But it wouldn't last, and the three knew it.

A strange whining noise filled their ears, and then Cyborg came down from the sky, this time on jets firing from his feet and back to keep him from hitting the ground like a felled tree.

"All right, what's going on?" He asked.

"Sizzle's still in Sam. Any and all attempts to get her out have failed." Savior said. "Cyborg, you haven't used your ice cannon yet, why are you holding back?"

"My cannon's got a lot more power then your guns or Kory's…Kory, what happened to your gun?" Cyborg asked in disbelief.

"I lost it." Starfire said.

"Great. Oh well, come what may." Cyborg said. "I have to carefully charge my cannon. If I fire it at too much power…I won't just cover Sam's body in ice, I'll freeze her solid. I don't want her shattering like the T-1000." Cyborg said.

"She's recovering." Raven said gravely, as Sizzle's crazy spasms finally subsided.

"I will occupy her." Starfire said, knowing from his expression that Savior was trying to come up with a plan and that he needed time. She flew off, towards Sizzle, her fists cocked. She wasn't sure what she was going to do…but she'd figure something out.

"We can't use the Oxygen Destroyer unless Sizzle is out of Sam. And we can't keep fighting her forever: the city may be abandoned but the hospital certainly isn't. If this battle keeps going we could draw near that place, and I don't want to put all those sick and injured people in the line of fire." Savior said, as Starfire attacked Sizzle, doing the equivalent of bitch slapping her and then flying away, a furious Sizzle pursuing.

"After that spell, I doubt I can get close enough to Sizzle. She won't let me." Raven replied.

"Damn. Then how the hell do we get her OUT OF THE HOST?" Cyborg lamented.

Savior thought for a few seconds, and then his face grew hard.

"Break her back."

Cyborg and Raven looked at the white haired teen.

"What?"

"You heard me. Break her spine! If the host is a paraplegic, Sizzle can't use it! Which means she leaves, and we have a chance."

"And it means Sam is crippled for life! Damn it Noel, you can't be serious!" Cyborg retorted.

"Do you think I want to hurt her?" Savior snapped back. "We're out of options!"

"But…!"

"Dammit Cyborg, the Shimmer can regenerate nerve tissue! Raven can heal injuries! Together, we can undo the damage, but we can only do that if we get Sizzle out and destroy her!"

"But…"

Savior looked at the black teen/robot, his face grave.

"I didn't want to do this Cyborg, but I'm asserting my command. I order you to break her spine! Now either accept or be recalcitrant, but do it quick. You have two choices and five seconds to make it. PICK. ONE." Savior ordered.

Cyborg's eyes narrowed.

And then he turned and launched himself into the fray, as Starfire flew back in, going low, and Sizzle followed her down by tossing a giant fire spear. Cyborg froze the spear with a quick blast of his freeze cannon, and then twin guns opened up on his large shoulders and barraged Sizzle with concussion-force blasts, Sizzle reeling back from the heatless impacts.

"I hated doing that." Savior said as he turned to Raven. "You also have a problem?"

"Only that your Shimmer only has a 100 percent repair rate with YOUR nervous system Noel. With Sam, it could be hit or miss." Raven replied. She was not angry or defiant, but she was clearly unhappy with what Savior had chosen to do.

"Well, if it comes to a teenage girl living an inconvenienced life or thousands dying, my choice is made." Savior said. "Fill in Kory! I have to do something quickly!"

"What?"

"Hope you never find out." Savior replied grimly. Raven stared at this strange answer, and then flew off to join the fight, as Savior opened up his communicator and keyed in a special code. It didn't take long for a reply to come, as a long-boned green face filled Savior's picture screen.

"Noel?" J'onn J'onzz, aka the Martian Manhunter, and the one who ran the Watchtower and decided where the JLA went to deal with threats, said.

"Yeah J'onn, it's me. J'onn, you remember that possibility I brought before you?"

"Yes, but…"

"It's becoming more likely. Perhaps too much so. So tell me, before I have to make a decision like this, I don't suppose you have an alternate. Like, say, Firestorm having come back from that huge mission you said the JLA was on."

"No, sorry. I wish he was. I don't want to do it either." J'onn replied.

"How about Zatanna?"

"No."

"Fate?"

"I have no idea how to contact him. He always contacts us."

"Right, what fun would life be if you could point Amazo at every threat? How about Jason Blood?"

"He said the last time he was here he had some mission on some demon plane…"

"Damn it!" Savior cursed.

"Is there anyone else who could provide assistance?" J'on replied, as explosions rang in the background.

"No, or I would have asked. I hate to do this to you J'onn, but I think you have to arm it."

"Savior, using that weapon could have serious consequences."

"Yeah, so could not using it. Arm it J'onn, and hope you don't have to fire it. I'm going to try and make that a possibility." Savior said, as he put the communicator away. Looking up at the battle, he saw that Raven was currently engaging Sizzle and pulled out his freeze guns to help.

Dark power crackling on her hands and sweat running down her face, Raven was currently trying to best Sizzle in a war of strength, as her power was extended out and meeting Sizzle's flame as Sizzle poured on her own power. Raven was doing her best, but the situation had worsened since their last engagement: Sizzle was now pouring out heat from her body, intense heat, and even if you kept your distance, the heat was more then enough to sap your strength. And that's what it was doing to her, as Sizzle screamed and increased her literal firepower, the red flame shoving against the dark energy going to dazzling white and shoving the black power back…

But one of the advantages of being on a team was that you were never alone, as twin beams of ice suddenly cut through the air at Sizzle. Sizzle saw the movement though, and she dodged out of the way…and then screamed as she was caught in a super sonic cannon blast, Cyborg having finally whipped out his battlesuit's enhanced version of his primary weapon. The mighty blast carried her upward…and Starfire flew in, having been filled in on Savior's plan. And though she didn't want to do it…she pretty much knew that their options were running low. So she put her feelings aside and flew in, fully in the warrior mindset her planet had trained her to acquire.

The only problem was the aforementioned heat that Sizzle was putting off. Whether said heat was due to her anger or a tactical boon she had thought of, who knew: the fact remained that the closer one got to Sizzle, the hotter it got. Sweat stung Starfire's eyes as she drew in close, behind Sizzle, who was still recovering from the sonic cannon blast, holding her breath so she didn't breath in superheated air and suffer Danny's fate, as she laced her hands together and swung them back, as Sizzle realized that someone was behind her…

Starfire's hands slammed against Sam's back, and Sizzle was smashed downward into a freefall, as Starfire stopped and gasped, trying to get some air into her lungs and wondering if she had succeeded…

And then Sizzle stopped with a scream. Starfire's heart sank. She hadn't gotten the proper impact behind the blow: the sweat had made her hands slip just a bit and bleed off the contact needed to cause the crippling injury. And while in the end Starfire was grateful all she had given Sam was a deep bruise, she realized that her failure was going to have serious repercussions.

"DAMN YOU!" Sizzle screamed. "DIEEEEEEEEEE!"

And Sizzle coiled her body inward and then snapped out all her limbs, and fire exploded around her and erupted in all directions, deadly superfast fireballs that flew everywhere. Starfire gasped and tried to dodge, but one clipped her and made her spin out, which allowed two more fireballs to slam into her and explode, sending her smoking body crashing into the ground.

"DAMN!" Cyborg cursed, as he threw one of his arm shields to guard against the outpouring of fury. A myriad of flame orbs slammed into the shield and other parts of Cyborg's body, and his (organic) eye widened as his heat meters spiked up into the red. Having no choice, Cyborg retreated to cool off.

Down on the ground, Savior cursed as he ran between the downward-aimed fire spheres, as Sizzle finally reappeared, her ball of fire fading from around her. Savior aimed and fired at Sizzle, both guns blazing freezing energy, but Sizzle saw it coming and threw up a fire shield. The ice beams didn't go through, even though Savior poured on the power for several seconds before he cut off, not wanting to overload the guns…

Sizzle swooped down at him, her hands blazing flame, and Savior cursed again and ran for it. Fireballs came raining down towards him, destroying an entire street as Savior ran, leapt, swung…and was caught, blown forward by the last wave of blasts. Not in a way he couldn't control through, as he did a few turning flips and landed facing the opposite way he had been running.

As Sizzle fired off her final blast of flame at Savior. His eyes widened, and he tried to get his guns up to freeze it, but it was too fast…

And then a bolt of dark energy slammed into the blast from the side, knocking it away from Savior and into the lower floors of a building. They exploded, and then the building buckled and collapsed towards Savior: he ran backwards to avoid it, everything in front of him being swallowed by the dust and smoke.

Raven floated down next to her lover.

"She's coming." She said, as her fingers did what looked like a few random motions to Savior, but was really Raven drawing ruins in the ice, as icy winds again swirled around her fingers. Savior nodded, and brought up his guns.

The dust cloud split apart as Sizzle flew through it, heading for the two.

Three beams of intense freezing power flew at the flame spirit.

And a white hot blast of flame came from Sizzle's hands, the two sides meeting in an catastrophic interface: when intense hot and cold suddenly and violently mixed together, the results were…explosive.

The explosion battered all the buildings around the sorceress, Titan leader, and fire spirit, shaking the whole city like an earthquake. From where he was recovering, Cyborg's eyes widened at the explosion and force wave, and even though his readings weren't optimum yet, he turned back from his protective position and headed for the site of the blast. Along the way, utilizing the tracking mechanism he built into all his gear, he retrieved Starfire's ice cannon. He just hoped Starfire was still in decent enough shape to use it.

Savior and Raven weren't in the best of shape though: the explosion had sent them both flying backwards at high speed, and while their respective talents saved them from being smashed to bits, getting blasted through a building (albeit a strangely softer one then usual) and then bouncing along the ground a few times was never pleasant. The two came to a stop.

"Ugghhh…Noel, you ok?" Raven asked as she floated up, her cloak shredded. Savior got up, shaking his head.

"Um, Noel…your arm." Raven said, noting that Savior's left arm was hanging at an odd angle, dislocated again. Savior snorted, and then the Shimmer snapped the limb back in, Savior screaming through his teeth. Raven didn't need to be an empath to feel that.

"I don't suppose the explosion affected her as badly as it did us." He asked.

"No, the fact that she's heading right for us like a freight train would suggest otherwise." Raven replied.

A giant ball of flame flew at the couple: Raven threw up a black energy shield. The fireball struck it and exploded, and while the shield absorbed some of the impact, it wasn't enough as it shattered and sent the couple flying again, as Sizzle flew in, laughing. As Savior and Raven came crashing back down onto the ground again, Sizzle threw back her hand, a radiant ball of white fire swirling into existence on it, aiming for the downed pair…

And then a rumble passed under her feet. And it wasn't the sound of Cyborg's feet, or another shockwave like the one from her previous explosion, no. This was something…bigger. Sizzle's fireball faded at the strange sensation.

And then green energy suddenly exploded off in the distance, a brilliant emerald luminescence that shot far into the sky…and then as quickly faded, as if it had never existed.

Savior stood up, wiping blood from his face, not sure what had just happened, or what had just saved Raven and himself. Sizzle seemed equally confused.

"What the hell…" She said.

Savior leapt in for the attack.

A lashing whip of flame flew out and coiled around Savior, and then twisted and hurled him through the air. Savior crashed through a wall of something and came to a stop, groaning. He shook his head and looked around…and realized where he was: the wreckage of the Manson estate. No wonder his previous trip through a building had seemed soft: it had been through the fire-gutted hulk that Sizzle had blown up when she had first made her appearance in this battle.

And it looked like she wanted to finish the job, as she aimed her hand at the mansion.

"SIZZLE!"

The voice stopped her. Actually, it froze her completely. She should have never heard that voice against except when she wanted to relieve memories…and only then. Not in any other situation, and certainly not coming from the battlefield, as she turned to face it…

Raven watched as Danny appeared from the smoke. She blinked, surprised but not too much. A lot less then Savior, anyway, who had pulled himself onto one of the creaky sides of the fire-ravaged mansion to get away and stopped dead when he had seen Danny.

"…What the hell…" Savior said. While Danny's clothes were a mess, every injury on his body was gone. Every broken bone, cut, and bruise Sizzle had inflicted…vanished. And for good reason. Had Danny just woken up from his body's "saving throw", the injuries would have stayed…but Danny had woken up to a lot more then just a suspended animation state.

And he was ready to show Sizzle that.

* * *

Savior wasn't the only one surprised. 

"He's ALIVE?" Skulker said, as he stood up from his chair in shock. His words and the picture on the screen spread through the bar like wildfire, as everyone saw that Danny Fenton, contrary to what everyone had assumed, was still in the land of the living.

"Hah! I knew it! Even though he is a plan-ruining, box-hating annoyingpants, I knew Danny Phantom would not be so easily be placed below the earth in a box!" The Box Ghost said.

Skulker didn't have anything to say…at least not verbally. His mind, however, was alight with possibilities. The ghost child had been savaged and then seemingly murdered, and yet here he was again, fresh and chipper and rarin' to go. How could that be possible…unless…and if that was possible…it might mean…

Skulker decided he'd figure it out later, as he sat back down. While the bar had been fairly interested in the Titans/Sizzle fight, the entire group was now completely fixated on the crystals that projected the images they were watching. For some, Danny was an enemy, for others he was something they had heard of, the Halfa, the boy who was part ghost and possessed all their powers. The only one except…Vlad Plasmius. Who many had been told and/or assumed would soon rule the ghost AND human worlds.

But if Danny Fenton had come back…

Everyone watched. They all wanted to know.

* * *

And the shock wasn't just among the rank and file of the ghost world. The would-be king was just as bewildered as them. 

Vlad, when Danny had spoken, had been drinking an expensive wine: the glass and bottle now lay shattered by his chair, as Vlad, once Danny had appeared on the screen, had dropped them and actually gotten out of the chair, walking up to the crystal image, as if getting closer would prove it to be a trick of light that would swiftly vanish once the proper perspective was regained.

Except Danny did not disappear. He remained, standing there, his eyes hard. Vlad's own eyes were pools of utter astonishment…the bad kind.

"No…NO!" Vlad cursed. "You were dead! I saw it! You could not have survived…could not…unless…"

The possibility that was dancing at the back of Skulker's head came full bore to Vlad…and was immediately squashed.

"No!" He said, as he waved a hand, the chair floating up and over so Vlad could sit and watch right up against the giant image, the way some kids will sit too close to the TV because they believe they can somehow see better that way. "He was just lucky! He learned some trick of his powers! Only that! Well boy, it's too bad you're wily enough to do that yet not clever enough to know when to retreat. That crazy girl will annihilate you. And why shouldn't she?" Vlad said, rationalizing it all away.

And so he sat and watched, waiting for reality to accurately follow his predictions. It always did so before, and considering who he was, it would do so now.

It had to.

* * *

Sizzle, if it was possible, was even more stunned by Danny's reappearance then Savior, the ghost observers, and Vlad. Danny, in a way, took great pleasure in her flabbergasted look. She hadn't seen a ghost; she'd seen a living boy. How was that for irony? 

"No…" Sizzle said, as Danny started walking forward again. "No. NO! **_NO!_** YOU'RE DEAD! I BURNED YOU FROM THE INSIDE! WHY AREN'T YOU STARTING TO ROT!"

"I am not so easy to kill." Danny replied. He knew that now, more then ever, as he continued to head for Sizzle.

Sizzle, to her credit, didn't stay shocked for long, as her stunned expression quickly morphed into one of angry amusement: angry that Danny was somehow still alive, amusement that this would let her kill him all over again.

"I don't know how you do it kid. You're not a bad penny, you're a whole fucking mint." Sizzle said.

"Let Sam go." Danny replied.

"Oh, did my fire somehow escape roasting your guts only to fry your mind? You're in no position to make threats, Danny boy. You might be alive, but that is an oversight I will quickly rectify." Sizzle said, though a tiny part of her was beginning to be surprised and annoyed that if Danny was alive, he wasn't transforming. Maybe he had had to use up all of his power to prevent her fatal attack and undo the rest of her previous play? But, if he couldn't transform, why was he striding towards her like he was…unless she really HAD broke his brain. If so, it was a pity: insane people were no fun to torture. They had lost perspective on such things.

"You know, I thought you were a monster. I was wrong. You're more then a monster. You're a hypocrite and a coward. You act like your life has given you the knowledge that everything you do is justified and everything you do is right, but then you turn around and break your own rules. You claim to be so much better then men, that you will bring women to their rightful place, and then you turn around and hide behind a woman, tormenting her because you loathe the fact that she cares for a man and you can't conceive of such a mindset, so it has to be destroyed!" Danny yelled. "Well Sizzle, maybe the world has done you wrong, but you've done the world worse in return, and you know what they say about actions and reactions." Danny said.

By now, Raven had teleported over to Savior, ostensibly to see if he was ok, but the reality was she sensed something Savior could not feel. That inability to feel was clear on his face.

"What is he doing? Even if he's back, against Sizzle…crazy kid!" Savior yelled, as he leapt down to the ground. By now, Danny was almost right in front of Sizzle, who was now looking more amused then angry.

"Well well…so the boy thinks he can play knight in shining armor, be the big hero. Well, it ain't happening Danny. You fate was sealed from the moment we met, and you can't evade it forever! So come on Danny! Look upon the face of fate!" Sizzle said, as fire exploded on her hand. "Now taste my righteous fire, AND CHOKE…!"

Danny swung out his fist.

Sizzle's head recoiled back from the blow.

Savior stopped. He hadn't been expecting that. A second later Raven caught up to him.

"Bloody hell. He hit Sam." Savior said. "I never thought anything could make him do that."

"He didn't." Raven replied. Savior looked at her.

"What?"

"Look."

Sizzle was turning her head back…or more accurately, Sizzle was turning Sam's head back. By now, Savior had noticed that Sizzle seemed to be drifting in and out of her control of Sam's face: half the time Sam's features expressed what Sizzle was feeling, and half the time Sizzle emerged from Sam's body in the red haze form she possessed to express her feelings on her own, separate from Sam, whose face became dull and lifeless due to Sizzle's repression of her personality. The haze, due to all the features kind of blurring together, could be hard to read, but Savior had watched it long enough to accurately observe what the red haze was expressing when it was separate from Sam.

Sam's face was unaffected, as it had been when Sizzle had done this before, the expression slack and prone in the way of a puppet…but Sizzle's face was once again in shock. A far deeper shock then she had been in before.

"…Wha…what…what…?" Sizzle gasped, as she brought her hand up to her "cheek". Savior was puzzled: he saw no injury on Sam's flesh…so why was Sizzle…

"I think you might have been looking at the wrong fate." Danny replied.

Sizzle's features contorted in rage.

"YOU…!"

Danny slashed out his leg in a powerful roundhouse, and Sizzle was knocked right off her feet, Sam's body flying and coming crashing down on its back.

Savior didn't need to see Sizzle's face now: he could read body language well enough that he knew, from the way Sizzle started getting up from the blow, the slight pause in her process of doing so, the tiny scrabbling back when she had been doing it…Sizzle had been knocked from her anger and back into utter disbelief at what had happened. A disbelief that was mirrored in Savior.

"He's hitting Sam!" The white haired leader blurted.

"No. No he's not. He's doing the exact opposite. He's found a way to fight Sizzle." Raven said.

"No…what's going on! How can you…!" Sizzle screamed as she started getting up.

Danny ran up and slashed out his leg, his toe of his foot slamming under Sizzle's chin. Her head snapped up, and then it came down…right into Danny's punch, which smashed Sizzle right back into the ground.

Savior stared, utterly baffled.

"Look at his body." Raven said. Savior looked at Danny, seeing only a very determined teenager…but this boy loved, or at least deeply cared for, the host that Sizzle was in, so why would he…

And then he saw it.

It was faint, much fainter then Sizzle's red haze over Sam's upper body…but there was a slight aura around Danny, a pale layer of energy that seemed to be superimposed on his form. It was like a shield, or a…

"AIIIIIIIIYYYYGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" Sizzle screamed, as she flew up off the ground and let loose with a fireball. Danny raised an arm as it flew at him.

"Ack! He'll be killed!" Savior said, starting forward.

Raven stopped him.

"No."

Danny lashed his arm out.

And Savior saw the aura EXTEND, ever so quickly, colliding with the flame and knocking it aside. It exploded off in the distance, but Danny didn't stop there, as he flowed one move into the next, using the outward momentum of his arm to roll forward onto his shoulders, and then twist off his shoulder and arms on the ground and spring forward toward Sizzle…

And this time Savior saw it, as the aura extended outward, amazingly fast, and slammed into Sam's body. Or at least that was what it looked like: what actually happened was it went THROUGH Sam's body and slammed into Sizzle, knocking her down again, as Danny landed on his feet, the aura there and gone so fast it was like it had never been there.

"Whoa." Savior said. And yes, he did sound like a certain actor.

"Danny's not just back, it looks like he learned a new way to merge with his ghost self." Raven said. "Danny's pulling his attacks at the last moment and letting his ghost self deliver the actual blow."

"But why is Sam being knocked down?"

"Remember how we couldn't hurt Sizzle before because while she was hooked up to Sam, it was in a way that anything we did to her, only Sam felt? Well, Danny's discovered the opposite of that. He's striking Sizzle, not Sam, but Sam is getting pulled along because of her attachment to Sizzle. But Sam's not feeling a thing. This is all Sizzle this time." Raven said, looking wickedly satisfied. "Danny found a way to attack her. And after all she's done, there's hell to pay."

"YOU FUCKER!" Sizzle screamed, as she fired another blast of flame at Danny as she got up: Danny dodged around that one and ran in before Sizzle knew what was happening. His fist slammed out, slamming across Sam's face, except it wasn't Sam that was being struck, it was Sizzle: Sam was just the helpless puppet whose strings were being jerked. But that was nothing compared to what Sizzle was feeling: after hiding behind hosts for so long, and being able to fry anything that threatened her for longer, the fact that she was actually being hit made her both furious with rage…and something else, something she hadn't felt for a very very long time, a sick feeling she thought she had long banished…fear.

For the first time, Sizzle was afraid.

But Danny wasn't showing the slightest bit of mercy, as he slammed out his other fist, smashing it into Sizzle's face. The heat haze actually seemed to extend out of the back of Sam's head and then snap back, and then Sizzle screamed in fury, fiery claws appearing on her hand and slashing out at Danny, but Danny leapt over then and lashed out with a leaping reverse heel roundhouse, knocking Sizzle away again.

"Guys!" Cyborg said, as he landed next to Savior and Raven. "What's going…whoa." Cyborg said, as he saw the fight. "What…huh?"

"Danny's back. And he's brought a few new tricks with him." Savior said.

"What do you mean?" Starfire said, as she dropped down and startled the Titans as per her usual. "I was under the impression Danny was dead."

"That was what I thought too. I was wrong." Savior replied. "And boy, I usually hate being wrong, but this isn't one of those times."

Danny ducked under Sizzle's mad slash and slammed his fist into Sam's gut, and while Sizzle didn't have wind to drive out of her the effect was still pretty similar as Sizzle doubled over. Danny leaned up, grabbed Sam's shoulders as Sizzle came up from her recoil, and slammed his head forward into hers, staggering Sizzle. He then he fired off several more punches, barraging her face with blows. Sizzle finally dodged away from one and fired off another blast of flame, but it was clear her motions were confused and starting to grow desperate. He was hurting her, he was finally getting around all her defenses, and he wasn't letting up.

"HOW DOES IT FEEL SIZZLE!" He yelled as he slammed his fist across her face again. "You like being helpless? You like being tortured? You like being treated like this?"

"FUCKING BASTARD!"

The intense blast of flame enveloped everything in front of Sizzle for twenty feet…and it didn't matter as Danny was in the air, flipping above Sizzle, and as her head turned to follow him he landed and thrust his leg out, kicking Sizzle in the gut. She doubled over again, and Danny grabbed Sam's hair and slammed his knee up into Sizzle's face, sending her recoiling back again. Sizzle recovered and began to scream again before Danny's fist cut it off.

"Get the Oxygen Destroyer out Victor." Savior said. "I have a feeling this is just about ready to end. But just to be safe, everyone spread out and get ready. Oh, and Cyborg, start charging your freeze cannon. We'd better have a full power shot ready, just in case." Savior said, as he pulled out his ice guns. The Titans nodded and began doing so, Cyborg having given Starfire back her ice cannon.

And, a fair distance away, a large RV automobile braked to a stop in front of a street filled with rubble.

"Darn it! That ghost is already back to causing property damage! We'll have to go around!" Jack said, as he tried to put the RV in reverse…and found that doing so was difficult. "Argh! Jazz, why did you pick the stick model! You know I have difficulty turning around with a stick!"

"Oops. Sorry Daddy. It's what I was learning on." Jazz replied.

"Let me drive." Maddie said, nearly throwing Jack out of the driver's seat before she sat down, fastened her safety belt and yanked the stick back, reversing the RV and driving down a side street to get to the fight

Danny didn't notice the Titans creeping around him, or know that his family was coming to help, or care about either. All he could see was Tucker, bursting into flames, and Sam, weeping as Sizzle forced her to harm him, and that was all he knew: he was too busy whaling on Sizzle to know anything else. He ignored her muffled cries as she realized she couldn't get Danny away from her: all she knew was how to burn people, and utilizing her ability took concentration, and Sizzle, having spent too much time in an untouchable state, had found she couldn't focus on attacking with fire or doing something to her advantage like igniting a fire inside his chest, not with the pain Danny was forcing on her, the pain she thought she had left behind, and a pain Danny would normally have never wished on anyone but he was beyond all such caring as that as he slammed punch after punch into her body and face.

"DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU!" He was yelling. "YOU HURT MY FRIENDS! YOU HURT MY FAMILY! WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE-JUST-STAYED-**DEAD**!"

The uppercut finished the onslaught and the fight: it didn't knock Sizzle down but it sent her staggering back, and then she collapsed to her knees. Sam's body was gasping for air, though Sam wasn't doing it, and since Sizzle was a ghost she didn't need to breath. Danny felt that was probably more due to Sizzle's still apparent bewilderment at this sudden turn of events. He also finally noticed that the Titans were nearby, watching his back. But he didn't need them, and that wasn't ego: in the new way his ghost self had combined with him, he was the only one who could touch Sizzle, and he had reached out and touched her, big time.

"It's over Sizzle." He said. "You've lost. I would offer you mercy, even though you don't deserve it…except I know that it won't do any good. I never thought anyone was beyond redemption…but I know that when a dog is rabid, you have no choice but to shoot it. But know that I take no satisfaction in this fact, or will do nothing to prolong it. Now get out of Sam, or I WILL hurt you more." Danny said, cracking his knuckles.

Sam's shoulders were shaking, and for a moment Danny wondered if he was witnessing the impossible: Sizzle crying.

Then she looked up, and the sound came. Laughing. Mad, insane laughing. He should have expected nothing more. Sizzle wasn't going to break down and weep: she was too far gone to ever again shed tears.

"Oh…you stupid boy…you stupid, accursed, fucking refusing to die boy…you think that you pull a miracle turnaround and it's all over…you think you can act like the Neanderthal you pieces of shit all are at heart and win…you think it's all over…"

"It is! You're through!"

"Oh maybe…if not for one little thing…Danny…did you ever consider that once I took control of Sam, the first and only thing I did was make a beeline for your meeting room?"

Danny's brow furrowed.

"You think that was what I did. Heh…heh heh." Sizzle chuckled, as she finally got Sam's body back up, though it was swaying, a boxer needing one more blow to be knocked out. "No Danny…I didn't do that. I did…a few other things first…looked around…looked…and listened…"

And suddenly, Raven realized what was going to happen, and her heart filled with ice.

"NO."

"Believe me, if you make an effort…" Sizzle said, as she reached into Sam's shirt. "You can hear the most INTERESTING things!"

And she pulled out the Sumerian artifact.

"DANNY! STOP HER! STOP HER!" Raven screamed, but her sudden panicked yell just served to distract Danny and the Titans preparing for Sizzle to leave Sam's body.

And that was all Sizzle needed.

As she thrust the amulet out, and fire exploded on her palm…and suddenly the words on the artifact lit up, glowing brightly, and as Danny snapped his head back to look at this Raven drew in another breath.

"DON'T LET HER START THE SPELL!"

Too late.

"Labiru dinger damiq ma nekelmu!" Sizzle chanted. By now, Savior had realized what was going on, as he ran over to Raven's side…and stopped as he realized something else.

"What the hell…how can Sizzle read Sumerian?"

"She can't." Raven replied. "But Sizzle remembers everything she absorbed from her hosts. She can't read Sumerian. But Maddie Fenton could. DANNY! STOP…!"

But Raven was too far away and giving info to the wrong person, as despite the fact that he had seemingly tapped into a new power, Danny was still a kid, and kids don't react well to things that were seemingly going swimmingly suddenly doing a 180 on them. Hence, instead of attacking, or trying to knock the Sumerian relic out of Sizzle's hands, he stood there, uncomprehending…

"Ni sisitu za-e, mina zu emuq itta kad kal!" Sizzle bellowed, and suddenly immense force began sweeping up around her, driving Danny back. He looked at the Titans for help, but Cyborg and Starfire were just as confused, and Raven just looked terrified.

"Shit! SHIT!" Raven said. "She's doing the spell wrong!"

"What? The spell wrong? That's bad?" Savior asked.

"Yes! Remember how I said it looked like the groves let you focus something through the artifact? Sizzle is forcing her essence through it, and it appears that's enough to get the spell to activate! But that remnant just has the spell itself! It doesn't have the other incantations you need to recite with a spell like this!"

"What incantations?" Savior yelled back.

"Spells like this, they're like pure alcohol. You don't drink pure alcohol in beer, you drink a mixture of liquids with alcohol in it! This spell calls for power, but anyone who recited it would do other spells with it, asking for a specific place to draw the power and a specific amount of power! If he or she didn't do that, they'd just start drawing on power until their whole body was destroyed! But that won't happen to Sizzle, because SHE'S ALREADY DEAD! And since she's not asking for a certain place or kind of power, the spell will just draw on what SHE thinks will bring her power…and there'll be absolutely NO LIMIT ON IT WHATSOEVER!"

"What's she drawing on?" Savior yelled back, as the wave of force coming off of Sizzle increased. Raven appeared to be thinking…and then it came to her like a thunderbolt.

"Oh no. OH NO!" Raven yelled, and vanished into the shadows.

"NADU REBU INA EBEBU!" Sizzle screamed, as she held the amulet above her head.

Starfire gasped as Raven suddenly appeared right next to her.

"Kory! Come here!" Raven said, grabbing Starfire with a dark energy claw and pulling her up against her. "I hope this works!" Raven said, as she began chanting rapidly, waving a hand around like she was having a seizure that just involved one arm.

"NADU REBU INA ETU!" Sizzle screamed. "NURU MA ASBU, ANKIDA!"

And then streams of red energy began shooting from the artifact, tendrils of red power much like Sizzle's haze form, and Danny found himself recoiling from the power, not knowing what was happening.

One of the lines fired straight for Raven and Starfire, as Raven finished the last of her chant and motions and slammed out her palm, the fingers spread wide. A symbol appeared in mid air before her, and the energy tendril struck it, a shockwave flowing back through Raven and Starfire, as Raven gritted her teeth and fought against the spell with all her power…and then it faded out, the line disappearing, and Raven collapsed to her knees, gasping.

"Ah…can't believe I…managed to block it." Raven gasped.

"Raven! What WAS that? What's going on?" Starfire asked.

"The artifact…it has a spell…that brings power…if you ask for it…but…Sizzle…asked for power…with no specifics…so the amulet is bringing her what she believes…will bring her power. Women. The spell will seek out what she saw as strength in women…from the women she possessed…and from any and all women in the area of the spell effect…and without any kind of specifics…oh god…" Raven gasped. "It'll steal all their energy…all of it. From every women around, possibly in a hundred miles…!"

And then more lines began appearing, dozens, scores, hundreds, thousands, lines of power shooting off into the distance at insane speed. The spell had been invoked, and now it would do as it was commanded: bring the caster the power of the female sex. All the power a human body had.

Jack Fenton never saw what happened: he just heard a sudden noise as the beam shot out and struck his wife, and she jerked with a swallowed cry, and then the beam disappeared, and Maddie fell face first onto the steering wheel. She was not dead…just…completely empty.

"Maddie?" Jack said, and then heard a thud behind him. He whirled.

Jazz was down on the ground, her eyes blank and lifeless.

"MADDIE! JAZZ!" Jack screamed, as his head darted back and forth, not sure what to do or who to help first…and then the blaring horn reminded him that Maddie had been driving, and now she wasn't…

And then the RV, pushed by the way Maddie was leaning on the steering wheel, jerked to the side of the road, hit the sidewalk, and flipped onto its side, and Jack screamed as the giant vehicle toppled onto its flank and then crashed into a sportings good shop. The vehicle shuddered and then laid still, no movement coming from within it.

And that was just the beginning.

* * *

Some distance from Amity Park, a blonde male teen was taking a bite out of his cheeseburger when he heard a slight cry, and he brought the burger down to find the woman who had made the cry was now lying prone on the ground. 

"Mom?" Dash said.

* * *

Elsewhere, at a considerably nicer restaurant, a man checking wines heard a strange noise and put down his menu to find the two women sitting with him had suddenly fallen forward, face first, into their plates of pasta. 

"My dear? Paulina?"

* * *

In the hospital on the outskirts of Amity Park, a black man, having been watching the fireworks on the other end of town with growing fear, heard a slight gasp and turned around as the room filled with the piercing buzz of a flatline. Which it wasn't: this wasn't something so simple as death…but the machines read it as such. 

"OH NO! VALERIE!"

* * *

An elderly woman, calmly knitting, suddenly jerked, and then slumped over as a bearded man looked up from the book he was reading. 

"Mom? MOTHER?" Mr. Lancer said.

* * *

And far away, in a strange little town, a flat faced man looked in confusion at his wife, who had suddenly fallen right on her face without any warning. 

"Mom?" Timmy asked. "Mom, what's wrong, what…"

And then Timmy stole a glance at his fish bowl…and saw one of his fish was lying limp at the bottom of the bowl, the other swimming around the prone body frantically.

"WANDA! WANDA!"

* * *

They all were drawn out by Sizzle, drawn to her, the power of the female species, what she knew lurked within all women and what she craved now, as the red tendrils suddenly began glowing with golden power, power that was heading straight for her. 

Danny, by then, finally realized he had to take action.

"No! Ok then, I'm goin'…!"

Too little, too late.

The power slammed into the relic, and Danny was thrown backwards by the immense wave of force, the Titans recoiling, as more and more power was drawn into the artifact and down into Sizzle, as her aura grew, expanded…and then snapped out of Sam. The goth girl collapsed to the ground, unconscious, as Sizzle rose up above her, her body streaming brilliant fiery light.

"Sam." Danny said, as he got up and scrambled over to the girl, taking her up in his arms. "Sam? Sam?"

Sam did not reply, but her face was peaceful. Danny looked down at her, feeling relieved…and yet saddened. The poor girl had been through so much…all because of him.

No.

All because of Sizzle.

Danny looked up as the power continued to pour in, as all the women and girls in the miles and cities around Amity Park suddenly stopped what they were doing and collapsed. And while this caused a fair share of accidents and tragedies…Danny and the Titans couldn't think of that, as the power continued to be drawn to Sizzle, her form growing, as the light shone ever brighter…and brighter…

And then it ended with a gigantic flash that blinded the Titans and Danny, and they recoiled away from the light…and then it was gone.

The Titans didn't want to look, but they had to.

Sizzle floated there, a changed being. She was nearly ten feet tall now…and her body…it looked…

"Human flesh?" Savior said to Cyborg, not sure what had happened. "She gave herself flesh again?"

"That's not organic." Cyborg said as his eyes scanned Sizzle. "That's fire."

"THAT'S FIRE?" Savior said incredulously, unable to believe that Sizzle's new form wasn't skin, muscle, and bone, because it looked exactly like that.

"Yes, fire. Insanely precise controlled fire. Do you have any idea how much power it takes to command molecules like that in such a way that you can do it without focusing on it at all?"

"…Oh shit. Oh shittttt…" Savior said, as he looked at Sizzle, the newly made over Sizzle. Previously, her whole body had been fire, a shifting red mass that had a human shape. Now…the fire was only obvious on the "clothing", as Sizzle was clad in a long, flowing dress of crimson flame (rather like Spawn's cape). Her hair, formally in a vague ponytail shape, was now loose, and flowed around her head, a more deeper, blood-red flame. Everything else looked like a human: the legs, the arms…the face…the eyes.

The Sumerian artifact was now pinned to the center of Sizzle's chest, as she raised her arms and looked at her hands, formerly crude shapes of flame, now perfectly formed fingers.

"…I am complete." Sizzle said.

And that wasn't hyperbole.

"I…the power. I feel it. All the things they hid from the male species. All their anger, all their resentment, all their injustices…everything you sinned against them with…" Sizzle said. She ignored that there was a lot of positive emotions mixed in with all the negativity: Sizzle only saw what she wanted to see.

Danny slowly stood up, putting himself between Sizzle and Sam, and the flame being's eyes caught the movement and she looked down at Danny.

"Oh no…oh no…" Raven said. It was worse then she thought. The sorceress now had a vague idea how the spell had worked in the old days: the caster would use it to call upon the strength of his fellows, and the artifact would take the power of the group and add it together in the caster, making him or her a mighty warrior. But the difference between that and this was that in those days, the caster would have taken power from others who had willingly given it, and only taken so much, both so the others could fight and so the caster didn't draw too much power into him or herself. If they took too much, their body wouldn't be able to handle it.

But a ghost had no such built in limits. So while the casters in the ancient days of yore might have only been able to drain perhaps twenty or thirty others before running the risk of harming or killing themselves…Sizzle had been able to claim the power of hundreds of thousands of women. And since Sizzle hadn't properly limited the spell, she'd essentially sucked every woman in god knows how far of everything they had, their very soul.

It was like how Murdercrow's anger had been absorbed by the T-Tower and caused it to act like a power battery and enhancer for her…only this was about a hundred times worse. And it chilled her to the bone.

Such fear was in Danny's heart too…but he did not let it overwhelm him. He couldn't, not even now.

Sizzle was looking down on him with an expression he'd never seen before…apathy. As if…he didn't matter anymore. Much like an ant wouldn't matter to a dinosaur.

But that didn't last, as Sizzle smirked.

"Don't think this changes anything Sizzle!" Danny yelled. "I'll take you down!"

"Sizzle?" Sizzle replied. "A sizzle is the sound of meat frying. It does not fit me any more. I am so much more then that now…" Sizzle said, as she raised her arms. "I am the Lord and Master of the Inferno, now utterly and truly! I am a goddess of the blaze! A deity of fire, a flame queen…flame queen…what was that Latin word for queen…dea…Flame Dea…Flammadea…Flammadea. A far more fitting name. Has a nice…ring." The newly rechristened Flammadea said, as she looked back down on Danny. "I have always dreamed to destroy mankind…now that dream is truly within my grasp! I can remake the world as I see fit! All that I wish will be mine! And you know what I wish first, Danny Fenton?" Flammadea yelled, as she threw back her arm. "REVENGE!"

The Titans never had time to help Danny, and even if they had it wouldn't have mattered, as Flammadea thrust out her hand.

All the previous streams of fire Flammadea had thrown had been about the size of her arm or slightly larger.

This blast of white fire was the size of a skyscraper.

Danny recoiled, throwing himself down on Sam, trying to guard her…and then he vanished in the disintegrating white line, the blaze consuming him and Sam and burning a huge line across the town of Amity Park. There was no explosion: just a complete and utter vaporizing of everything that was three hundred feet in front of Flammadea…including Danny and Sam.

And then the fire was gone. The Titans drew back from their recoil, and Cyborg wondered why they weren't dead too: such a blast of large, intense flame should have roasted them just as a dead as Danny, considering how close they were to it.

Except…it was thrown by Sizzle. Who had utter mastery over fire. Including what it burned and what it didn't. The fact that she could throw out such a huge blast of heat and only destroy what she wanted…that didn't give Cyborg any comfort. It only made him realize how powerful she was. And that she had more planned for the Titans then a simple disintegration from collateral damage.

"Heh heh heh heh heh…" Flammadea laughed, as she lowered her arm, as the smoke and dust cleared to reveal nothing but scorched ground before her. "COME BACK FROM THAT, YOU SON OF A BITCH! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Aw no…Danny…" Savior said: unlike last time, his emotions were more tug of war, as he had just seen Danny and thought him dead, and then he was alive again, and now…it looked like he was dead again…and Savior couldn't waste time worrying about the fate of Danny Fenton. Sizzle, er, Flammadea had super-ultra-omega charged herself up, and if she got a full handle on the power she had now…

"CYBORG! FREEZE HER!" Savior yelled, and Cyborg remembered that he'd been charging up his ice cannon all this time, and since Sizzle was out of Sam and calling herself Flammadea now, he figured now was the best time to use it, as he aimed and fired.

Flammadea turned and saw the giant blast coming. All she did was smirk.

"No." She said, as she held out her hand. A small line of fire flew from her palm and struck the ice beam, stopping it dead. Cyborg poured on the power, but the small line of flame didn't budge an inch, and Cyborg had to eventually stop before he overloaded all his systems.

"Shit! That kind of chill would freeze the plasma on the surface of a star!" Cyborg cursed.

"What say you now, Titans?" Flammadea laughed. "Do you actually wish to fight me?"

Savior didn't answer. He just looked around at his teammates…and then he gestured. They knew what that meant.

TITANS, GO.

With a combined battle cry, the Titans flew at Flammadea.

The flame goddess just flew away, laughing madly.

"So, you do not understand. Very well then! You wish to take up arms against a being such as me? Then I shall provide you with a most glorious Armageddon!" Flammadea laughed, as she raised her hands.

Fire exploded on her being, fire that stopped the Titans and drove them back from the insane heat, as Sizzle laughed and concentrated her power onto her right fist.

"LET THE HEAVENS BURN!"

And she zapped down to the ground, as she raised her fist and slammed it against the Earth.

A colossal pillar of fire exploded up from around her and tore up into the sky, piercing into the dark clouds that gathered over Amity Park, power zapping and crackling through them…and then they split open and erupted.

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SHITTTTTTTTTTT!" Savior screamed as massive fireballs began to fall from the sky like hailstones. "RAIN OF FIRE!"

Indeed it was, as the fireballs began crashing down on Amity Park, exploding the ground around the Titans as they dove for cover. Several blocks around where the Titans and Flammadea were immediately consumed in an inferno that began to spread immediately.

Fire rained down. Amity Park burned.

And Flammadea floated up, laughing, glorying in her newly acquired godhood.

Savior had another phrase from his studies of war: for hell to be brought to the surface of the Earth. It meant to represent the destruction Nazi Germany had wrought in its attempts to conquer the world. But it was just a metaphor.

But as everything burned around them…

And Flammadea laughed and laughed…

Savior realized he was seeing the reality of the phrase.

And he also realized he probably wouldn't live long enough to see it for long.


	17. Ignipotens: Earth, Sin, and Fire

Chapter 17: Earth, Sin, and Fire

_"Primus in orbe deos fecit timor."  
_("It was fear that first made gods in the world.")

-Statius, _Thebias_, III

Evil comes in many forms.

We have spoken of them, so far, but the ones we have mentioned have always been the small ones, the petty ones, the ones that may ruin lives but are little in the grand scheme of things…they are many in number but minute in importance.

But there are those…that are refined.

There are those…that are truly exceptional.

There are those…whose darkness is so entangled with light that one cannot be sure what one is looking at. And in a way…this can be worse. The truly greatest evils can hide behind a smile…or a cause…and their evil can be concealed, distorted, made so vague you are no longer sure what you are looking at.

And these evils…they can meet others…less developed one…and allow them to begin their final metamorphosis…

_She walked from the strip club, the building crashing and burning behind her. All traces of victimhood and weakness are gone from her pose and her expression. Her face is a mask of rage, barely sated by the carnage she had wrought. She wore an outfit that looked quite a bit like a one-piece bathing suit, red as blood, and exposing more skin then she would like, but she must wear it: she is still learning her power and while she has learned she is immune to being burned from her own flames she is not immune to their heat, and after sweating nearly to death in a few other outfits Sizzle, very grudgingly, had resorted to wearing this jumpsuit. Besides her hated outfit (hated even IF she could melt the eyes of any male who dared looked), she was clad in red boots, and her long hair was tied up behind her in a high ponytail. Her frail body now ripples with muscles, the result of an obsessed mind refusing to show weakness in any way whatsoever, and she walks with an angry purpose._

_She has destroyed another pinnacle of the sins of men, their flesh display, their stirring of their sick hormones in preparation for whatever woman they planned to violate next. The men expected a hot show: she gave them one. And for letting themselves be debased like that, Sizzle took care of the women as well. She wanted to save her own kind, but in her opinion, once you fell that far, you were beyond hope._

_For Sizzle, a lot of things made you beyond hope._

_The sound of sirens was increasing: cars were turning around the corner. But by now, Sizzle had gotten used to this. And she knew exactly where the gas tank is._

_The police cars exploded, flipping up and over onto the street, their heat and shrapnel causing other cars to erupt as well. Feeling only the slightest twinge of satisfaction, Sizzle crossed over to the building across from the destroyed strip club and went into an alleyway, finding a garbage can. She hopped on the lid, showing perfect balance, and then with a glance toward the can it exploded, throwing the lid up, Sizzle riding on top of it. The force was enough to raise her up past the roof, where she hopped off and continued to leave. She had no real destination in mind: she just wandered until she found men and then she killed them._

_And she was about to meet another, much sooner then she thought._

_"Nice work."_

_Sizzle whirled to the voice, her eyes falling on the figure sitting near the edge of the roof, his form in the shadows, but Sizzle could make out that he was large, with long hair…and a long set of metal claws on his arm, which he tapped lightly against the side of his leg._

_"Takes a special someone to just strike down ones foes in such a way." The Lord of the Night said._

Not all insanity is evil, but all evil is insane.

But the sicknesses that lurk in the coralline whorls of the human are legion.

Some manifest in a simple, overwhelming desire to destroy.

And others are more…ambitious…zealous…and so horrible most evils pale in comparison…

Especially those who are never quite aware of what they are seeing…

_"Who the fuck are you?"_

_"Why introduce myself? I am a man. You hate men. Surely you will immediately try to kill me." The Lord replied._

_Sizzle didn't let the Lord say anything else: she was already blasting fire…at where the Lord had been. The flame blew a hole in the edge of the roof…but the Lord was already thirty feet away._

_"As I said. Considering what we can do together, its kind of a shame that all you can think of is my destruction. But then again, I'm sure you have your reasons." The Lord said._

_Sizzle's eyes blazed, as she snapped out her hand._

_And suddenly found an arm encircling her throat, the claws pointed at her carotid artery, and she gasped as she realized the Lord, before she could even process it, had gotten around and behind her. Now he was holding her, albeit strangely lightly: true, he had blades to her throat, but the rest of his body was away from her, not touching her._

_"So I must do this." The Lord said. "And before you just light me on fire with your touch or thoughts, I should inform you I am wearing ten pounds of explosive and several hundred balls bearings under this outfit. Any kind of heat will detonate it, and while the flames may not hurt you, the force wave and ball bearings WILL slice you to bits. And believe me, even if you get away from me, you won't get far away enough so that the explosion won't kill you: either I'll be too close or you won't see me at all, and I know you need line of sight to ignite something." The Lord said._

_Sizzle was shocked, and though she tried to hide it, her body momentarily went into an utter panic at the thought of her past and how she had been treated, a helpless toy to be used and discarded, the panic bringing out her rage, a rage she almost used to strike out despite the fact it may lead to her death…_

_"But I would rather neither of us die." The Lord said, and released Sizzle. She whirled around, her eyes both confused and furious._

_"I just wish to talk." The Lord said. "Hear me out, and if you don't like what you're hearing, I'll leave, and you'll never see me again. But I think that despite my sex, you'll be interested."_

_"I doubt you fucks have ANYTHING that could interest me." Sizzle replied, as she ignited fire on her hands. Despite his seeming peaceful poise, Sizzle didn't trust anyone, least of all a man who got the drop on her and knew her well enough to protect himself from her fire._

_"How about the freedom to keep doing this?"_

_"What? What the hell are you talking about? I don't need ANYONE'S help to keep doing this, much less yours!"_

_"Perhaps…but Sizzle, so far you have only encountered normal people, regular males. But your attacks and killings, as justified as they might be, are starting to attract attention. If you keep doing this, you WILL attract the interest of one if not several metahumans, and when you do you're in trouble. The so-called superheroes may seem like foolish, blind children in stupid costumes, but they can be annoying persistent and surprisingly skilled. I speak from personal experience." The Lord said. "And before you say you'll fry them, maybe. But if you do THAT, you'll just attract MORE. The bastards look out for their own: you kill one or two and next thing you know the Justice League is knocking on your door. And I doubt, no matter how angry you are Sizzle, that you can beat Superman."_

_Sizzle's eyes blazed at the suggestion she couldn't beat any man, even though she knew in her heart the Lord was right._

_"So what's your point?"_

_"I propose a partnership."_

_"With you? Fuck you." Sizzle said, raising her flaming hands again. "I don't need any man for protection."_

_"I don't want to protect you. I want your help. And if you agree, the reward will be worth it."_

_"What could you possibly offer?"_

_"How about the power to make any attention by superheroes a moot point?"_

_"Yeah right. You think I was born yesterday? Those plans never work."_

_"Yes, because the ones who put them into play…they are always impatient. They underestimate the ones standing in their way. But what I have planned…it won't work that way. There will be no grand displays or written letters to challenge others to figure it out. No, what I have planned, no one will realize until it is too late. And by then, it really WILL be too late."_

_"I doubt it." Sizzle replied, as fire re-awoke on her hands. "Fuck off."_

_"I see. Pity." The Lord said. "You would have made a worthy partner. I'll be sad when you finally get taken down. Whoever does it will probably humiliate you to 'repay' you for your 'crimes'. Such is the way in this world, trying to protect the rubbish, rubbish you and I equally see. Really, it's a shame." The Lord said._

_"Please. Like you see anything like me."_

_"I know that mankind is worthless. Your actions certainly show that."_

_That got Sizzle's attention._

_"But you're a man."_

_"Please. This is a shell, something I have yet to discard. I wear it extremely grudgingly. But this so called human race…the whole species is worthless, filled with wastrels and deviants. And mankind is at the top of that list, with their own perversions and oppressions and destructions…and sadly, their better weapons. Better weapons then you Sizzle. That's why I offered this: you and I see the same way, and you deserve what we could bring together. But if you insist…well, we all choose our own path. But yours WILL dead-end eventually." The Lord said. _

_Several forms of anger passed over Sizzle's face, as she wrestled with the Lord's words, and worse…the terrible ring of truth to them. A truth even she realized. For all her power…there were many who had more. MEN._

_"…You have thirty seconds." Sizzle said._

_What the Lord said in those thirty seconds, as he began to explain his plan, wasn't enough to make Sizzle side with him…but it was enough for her to give him another thirty seconds. And after that…_

_"You really think I'm stupid?" Sizzle suddenly said. "I see what you'll do. You'll drag me along and then when my back is turned you'll try and take me out, and keep all the power for yourself."_

_"That might be the case…but the truth is Sizzle, I need four to do the ritual. And once I do it, I cannot alter or lessen where the power goes. Four are needed, four will be blessed. And then the world is ours. Hell, you can keep this world: I may very well leave to make my own. But neither of us can accomplish this alone Sizzle. I need your help. If you will accept my humble request, you and I…"_

_"What about the two others?"_

_"That would be the ones standing on either side of you."_

_"Hu-UHHHHH!" Sizzle yelped as she realized that indeed, there were two people on either side of her. On her left was a spindly pale man, black hair covering his eyes, his arms crossed in front of him via the wrists at his waist. The other was a short black haired female whose eyes were covered in a black bandage. Both wore combat suits similar to the one the Lord was wearing, albeit with several superficial differences._

_"May I point out both of THEM are wearing explosives as well." The Lord said, stopping Sizzle before she instinctively flash-fried either. "These are Murdercrow and Shadowmaster, the other two. Together, we will rule the world. If you're willing to work beside a man. But as far as I am concerned Sizzle, I am a man in birth only."_

_Sizzle looked cross anyway, but she appeared to be thinking it over._

_"What if I say no now?"_

_"Then we leave and sigh at the fact that we have to go hunting for a replacement."_

_"Where's that book you said the spell was in?"_

_"Nearby. I can have Shadowmaster fetch it for you."_

_Sizzle was silent. For a little while anyway._

_"Let's get one thing straight." Sizzle said. "I don't trust ANY of you fucks. You even show the SLIGHTEST hint of anything I don't like, I'll roast every single one of you. Especially YOU, 'Lord'. And believe me, I will be watching VERY closely." Sizzle said._

_"I assumed nothing less. So, is that an agreement?"_

_Sizzle just glared._

_"I'll take what I can get. Welcome to Genocide Sizzle. You have made a wise choice."_

_"Oh how cute we have a name. Stupid fucking men and their titles." Sizzle growled. "Where's that book? I want to see it! Now!"_

_"Yes, of course. Shadowmaster…" The Lord said._

_And hence did Sizzle join Genocide, but not under any friendly terms. Indeed, she had her own scheme: she'd figure out a way to claim power for herself, or at least kill the Lord the instant he showed the flaw of his species. His words didn't matter to her: he was a man. They would always fail._

_Except the Lord didn't._

_In the several months Genocide prepared for the spell, The Lord never slipped up once, never gave Sizzle the excuse she craved. That, and the fact that she served with three people who seemed to be like her, if they didn't outright appreciate her…_

_Humans, no matter how badly they have been hurt, are pack animals. On some level, we all crave companionship. And eventually, even Sizzle softened, just a bit, her mad rage towards males fading back into her psyche, as she worked with the Lord and Shadowmaster, even occasionally calling the Lord 'Boss', albeit with so much sarcasm that if it could be made physical it would serve as fair shielding against radiation. But she still waited for the time where the Lord would slip up, where she would claim what she wanted._

_Poor Sizzle. She thought she was so clever._

_Never knowing the Lord could read minds and had told Sizzle exactly what she wanted to hear. Never knowing that his ultimate scheme required three pawns, and while Sizzle was the hardest to mislead, it was not impossible. _

_It was for that reason that the Lord, after memorizing the document that carried the spell, destroyed it and then painstakingly recreated it with several alterations that showed the so-called sharing. A sharing that was never in the original spell: the spell granted power only to one. But Sizzle didn't have enough worldliness to tell a real ancient book from a very carefully recreated forgery…_

_It was for that reason that the Lord had watched Sizzle for a long time, studying her, practicing the exact precise things to say._

_It was for that reason that the Lord never betrayed a thing. Sizzle, during the entire time, though she had the wool pulled over everyone's eyes, but in reality, the wool was over hers._

_For in the end, she was still a small evil._

_While the Lord…was something else entirely._

Evil comes in many forms.

Some are worse then others.

And some need that exposure to fully develop…

* * *

What happened to the Lord, some know, some don't. But he is not important. 

In the end, Sizzle, now Flammadea, has found the godhood the Lord promised her, and she glories in it, as fire rains down on Amity Park and she fills the air with her laughter.

Several fireballs ripped through and crashed at the base of a twelve story building, and the structure buckled and tipped over onto the street, crashing down in an immense din and a huge cloud of dust.

A cloud of dust that a shadow portal opened into, and out stumbled/flew the Teen Titans, as Raven closed up the portal and glanced worriedly to the sky.

"Shit." Savior said, mirroring his girlfriend's glance. "Ok, maybe I'm just grasping for straws, but does it seem to be coming down with considerably less force then before?"

"No, I think you're right." Cyborg said, looking as a pop-up monitor on his arm. "When Sizzle, Flammadea, or whatever she wants to be called now started this, it was coming down at an utter downpour. But after about thirty seconds, the rain started to slack off. It's still coming down at a fair clip though…but at least we have SOME breathing room."

"Probably because Flammadea wants to do more then just blow us up with a deluge of indirect missiles." Raven said forbiddingly. "I never should have left that artifact on the table."

"Hindsight bias my dear, best not to dwell on it." Savior said.

"Titttttttttaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnsssssssssssss…" Came a singsong voice. "You were so eager a minute ago! Don't tell me you've already decided to take your balls and go home?"

The Titans jerked up at the voice, Flammadea's voice, as it drifted over the ground to them. Savior did a 360 observation, and then another, just to be sure.

"She's not right on us, but she's close. Probably sweeping the area for us, but I doubt that will last…" Savior began, and then a ball of fire came roaring down from the sky: the Titans dove out of the way to avoid it, Savior rolling back up immediately.

"Ok. Cyborg, I want you to scan that cloud, see if it's getting bigger! If it is, eventually it will engulf the hospital…and…" Savior said, trailing off as he seemed to realize something. Whatever it was though, he swallowed it and turned back to the group. "Raven, go to the hospital, cast every guard spell and protection against flame spell you have on the place! And let the staff know what's going on: the last thing we need is a panic. Starfire, you're with me. We tackle Flammadea and try to distract her until Raven and Cyborg have completed their tasks. Understood?"

"You want to tackle Flammadea ALONE?" Cyborg said incredulously.

"No, but I have to. If I don't come back, you're in charge Victor." Savior said, as he pulled out his ice guns. "Titans, Go!"

Raven disappeared into a shadow portal, and Starfire grabbed Savior and pulled him over the fallen building, while a few more monitors and keyboards extracted from Cyborg's arm as he began running tests. Starfire flew until they spotted Flammadea, who was at the moment facing away from them. Savior did a hand signal, and Starfire dropped Savior, pulled the freeze rifle off her back, dodged away and around a few falling fireballs, and then, without making a sound, fired a full power freeze blast at Flammadea.

The blast hit her…and stopped. No ice formed at all: it was like the beam was being absorbed right into the flame goddess' body. Starfire gasped, but she didn't let up on the trigger. Down on the ground, Savior cursed, and looked at his guns as he pondered turning the power on them past the safety range. The downside of doing that was if the guns overloaded…they could explode and freeze him into a permanent statue. On the other hand…

Flammadea looked up, as if just noticing she was being attacked, and then she turned around. She looked amused.

Starfire's eyes narrowed, and she switched modes on her weapon. Powerful blasts of cold force slammed repeatedly into Flammadea.

She barely seemed to notice.

"Shittttttt!" Savior cursed under his breath. He wasn't sure whether to attack or order Starfire off; both choices would expose his position. He gave himself two seconds to decide, and then came to the conclusion that he would help Starfire by attacking.

Too late, as Flammadea was suddenly no longer across from Starfire, she was right in front of her. Starfire gasped.

"Your namesake needs more accuracy." Flammadea said.

Starfire was a Tamaranian, a species developed and trained to war, and she was the princess of that species, possessing exceptional gifts and abilities. Despite her slight frame, she could take blows that would shatter stone and dent metal, and not flinch.

Which pretty much showed how much power Flammadea was packing when she uppercutted Starfire and utterly floored her. Starfire was thrown backwards, her head and heels switching positions…and then Flammadea slammed her palm and simultaneously blasted an intense wave of fire into Starfire's back. The blow sounded like a thundercrack, and sent Starfire screaming across the burning cityscape and off into the horizon.

"Déjà vu." Flammadea commented.

Feeling terribly guilty at his slowness, Savior tried to take his anger out on Flammadea, as he fired his twin ice beams.

They hit her, but much like Starfire's guns, they had no apparent effect. Except to get Flammadea's attention, as she turned around.

"Well well. The pig returns." Flammadea said, and suddenly disappeared into a swirling ring of fire, vanishing.

And reappearing in front of Savior, as he recoiled from the sudden intense heat. Flammadea had also adjusted her size: she was about the same size she had been before her powerup. She smiled at Savior.

Savior aimed his ice guns.

Flammadea waved her hand, and twin wires of flame fired out from her palm and struck Savior's hands, burning them and making him lose the grip on his guns at the same time. He yelled as the weapons were tossed aside.

"Hello little man." Flammadea said.

Savior never saw her move: he just felt the impact on his face and then he was falling down. He hit the ground hard, and winced as he gripped his face, which was not just burned, but sporting a freshly broken nose.

"Now we're even." Flammadea said.

Savior kipped up to his feet, wrapped his arms and fists in the Shimmer, and charged. Flammadea smirked.

Savior's first punch with his right hand hit where Flammadea's head had just been: it was now to the left of his fist, still wearing that smirk. Savior punched with his left fist: Flammadea's face was now a foot backwards from where it had been. Savior spun and backhanded: Flammadea's face vanished into wisps of fire that Savior punched through, and then they reformed into her face. Savior kept spinning: Flammadea flowed down to avoid his roundhouse and flowed back to avoid the follow up spinning kick. Savior finished his twirling and charged again, firing off punch after punch. Flammadea dodged every one of them, either by speed or by distorting her body away from the blow.

The following sentence showed one thing: Savior never lacked courage. However, he usually lacked stupidity as well…this didn't appear to be one of those times.

"Great. You're a queen among all beings, and yet you STILL retreat before a man!" Savior said, as he punched again.

Flammadea didn't move this time: long tendrils of fire, flowing almost like curtains (or like the cape of an aforementioned Image superhero) flowed out from her back and grabbed Savior by his (fortunately, somewhat) Shimmer-encased arms.

"No. I just wanted to see if you could amuse me." Flammadea said. "Bored now."

More tendrils shot off, grabbed Savior by his legs, and lifted him off the ground…for about a second: Flammadea rudely reintroduced Savior to it by flipping him over her and slamming him with the earth. The shock drove the air out of him, so he couldn't scream, and he had plenty to scream about as Flammadea lifted him up and then swung him out, smashing his body through the burning framework of a nearby building. As the building began to collapse from the impact, stones and wood collapsing into a new intense blaze, Flammadea pulled Savior back.

"Let's see if you roast up like a marshmallow!" She said delightedly, and then rammed Savior back into the burning conflagration of the building she had just reduced to rubble via his body, shoving him into the flame and holding him there. This time, a long scream came from the fire. Sizzle smiled contently.

* * *

Raven was on the roof of Amity Park General, the main hospital, and currently the only one open due to some reason. And also the only apparent place in Amity Park where people still were. The building was crammed to bursting due to Sizzle/Flammadea's earlier attack, and Raven had had a somewhat easier time convincing the heads of the place not to panic and try and abandon everyone then she had expected: moving all the sick, injured, bedridden, and other cases, not to mention the surgeries and people on life support, would probably be harder then staying put and hoping some strange girl was telling the truth when she said she could protect the building from a possibly approaching rain of fire. The fact that she had appeared out of thin air and disappeared as such probably helped as well. 

Raven was only telling half the truth. Yes, she could probably cast spells that would guard the building…if she had a few hours to meditate and prepare. The amount of time she had now was measured in minutes, most likely: even IF the rain wasn't expanding, who knows what Flammadea might do with a carelessly tossed fireball.

She could still do it though…but to do it so quickly, she would have to pay a high price.

On the other hand, the lives of hundreds of truly helpless innocents were in her hands.

The choice was simple.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…" Raven chanted, floating in mid air, her legs crossed, as she reached deep down within her, to her very core, her very SOUL…and while the exact thing she did could not really be described, the closest one could come to a description was that she snipped a small part of her soul off and used it as a sacrifice to get around all the necessary preparations she would normally have to do.

"ZINTHOS! GURLARYU TREBNOIL FROUKHL GURADIS MOTEOLOP!" Raven chanted, as power flowed from within her and down into the building. Perhaps Melchior had tricked her, but before he had she had learned a great deal from him, and more then that, she had been given the desire to seek out more knowledge and spell-casting expertise, and while she was far from Fate or Blood, she was still a force to be reckoned with, as she continued to chant and power continued to flow down into the building.

It took about forty seconds to do, and when it was done Raven collapsed onto the roof, breathing heavily. She had most likely taken ten years off her life with that incantation. Not that THAT really mattered: her half demon blood would most likely ensure she lived several centuries…unless something cut the cord prematurely.

Indeed, sometimes she wondered if that might be better: her difference in aging most likely meant she would see Noel grow old and die…and she wasn't sure if she could…

Her previous concentration had blocked it, and hence Noel's pain suddenly slammed into Raven like a mach truck. She gasped, and then, despite the ache in her body, she pulled herself up and shot back towards the battle. She might not know how she could handle watching Noel grow old, but as long as she was alive, she'd do everything to make sure he DID grow old.

* * *

And Savior had plenty of the same desire. 

Innumerable Shimmer strands suddenly ripped through the fiery wreckage, lancing at Flammadea: Flammadea floated back to avoid them. The strands were followed by a storm of thrown debris: Flammadea's form contorted around all the tossed rubble, even though her fire tendrils vanished in the process.

His clothes scorched black and burned skin poking through ragged holes in them, Savior flew from the rubble, his Shimmer seizing up the burned metal framework of what had once been a car, and as Flammadea reformed, he swung it up and brought it down on her.

The scorched chassis disintegrated upon touching Flammadea's body: the whole car vanishing as Savior slammed it down. He might as well have tried to attack her with a pane of sugar glass.

"Hmmmmmm…" Flammadea said, as she looked at a shocked Savior, lifting her hand and making vague motions with her fingers, a motion that some people might make when they are trying to decide between multiple options.

Then, with a brief wrist twirl, Flammadea gestured at him.

An explosion blasted right next to Savior, blowing him to the side with a yell…and suddenly ANOTHER explosion erupted beneath him, while he was still in mid-flight, blowing him up. Savior's world whirled, and before the white haired Titan could even begin to recover another blast erupted in mid air and smacked Savior back towards the ground at an angle…right into another explosion before he hit said ground, throwing him back up…and into another explosion.

Flammadea waved her hands back and forth, lazily, as she bounced Savior from blast to blast, smirking as he did his best impression of a pinball. Up and down and back and forth she threw him…until her final blast blew him upward…and right into one of the balls of flame that was coming down from the clouds. That explosion blew him straight down towards the street, where he impacted with a mighty crash.

"Awwwwwwwwww. Tilt." Flammadea said, and floated towards the small crater Savior was lying in.

As the Shimmer propelled him up, as he did a flip and landed on the street before Flammadea. She stopped, arching an eyebrow.

"You call that a beating?" He snarled.

And then he fell flat on his face.

Flammadea resumed her smirking, as one of her tendrils emerged, grabbing Savior by the back of his jacket and lifting him up, the material hissing and beginning to melt under the intense blaze, as she pulled Savior up before her.

"You know, the reason you got the drop of me before was because I thought the Lord had lobotomized you. But of course, he did a subpar job." Flammadea said, as she raised her right hand. The limb morphed into a cruel looking tool, a torture device from the imps of hell. "I won't."

A slight rumble sounded behind Flammadea. She blinked, and then turned her head.

As Raven slammed the five square feet of concrete she had yanked out of the broken streets of Amity Park right down on top of the flame deity. The tendril holding Savior vanished, and Raven caught the teen as he started to fall, carrying him away as the chunk of stone began to shake.

"You know, this role reversal happens more often then in most couples." Raven said as she flew up past the building rooftops.

"Yes, and I'm enlightened enough to know I have more threat to my masculinity from her then you." Savior mumbled through bloody lips.

The rock shattered as Flammadea erupted from beneath it.

"Must fly faster." Savior said dryly.

And then a sudden loud beeping came to the attention of the couple. They knew what it was: their communicators. And they both knew what the beeping signified.

"Strike that. Teleport." Savior replied.

Screaming, Flammadea lanced at the two.

They vanished in dark power.

And then a large round metal orb, about the size of a basketball, was flying through the air. Flammadea only got the chance to take a brief look at it.

And then it exploded.

What came forth was not heat or force, but light. Much like the DD's Flammadea had used when she commandeered the Fenton-copter…except about ten times more potent. Any human seeing that light from a distance of five miles would have gone blind: fortunately, no human saw it. Except Flammadea, as the world began filled with nothing but utter, complete white, her scream echoing out across the sky.

Several blocks away, behind another fallen building, a four story one this time, Cyborg removed the special dark glass he had used to cover his eyes, and brought his hand away from Starfire's face, as she blinked.

"I'm still seeing spots." She commented, having recovered from Flammadea's blow/immolation and been returning to assist Savior when Cyborg had called her down. A shadow portal opened up, disgorging Raven and Savior, who thanks to Raven's healing abilities had recovered his senses.

"Nice move Vic. Think it will work?" Savior commented.

"Despite all her power, Sizzle or Flammadea or whatever apparently hasn't learned any alternate methods of seeing, so her eyes are like human eyes. For now. You can bet she's going to recover from that, and when she does…"

Loud explosions began sounding off in the distance, as still blind Flammadea vented her wrath and tried to luck out and find a target at the same time. For now, Savior ignored her, as he checked to see if the sky was about to hit them with a flaming missile. He saw none, so he spoke.

"Well?" He asked. He didn't need to elaborate.

"Hospital's secure. Hopefully." Raven said.

"Wish I had good news too, but I don't." Cyborg said, as his arm flipped open and a holographic map of Amity Park appeared, showing the city and the fire cloud. "You were right Noel. It IS spreading. From my readings, it's expanding by a radius of about one mile every minute."

All the color drained from Savior's face.

"Oh shit." He said.

"Yeah, I know." Cyborg said, as a T sign appeared on the map, and then the map expanded outward until an H sign appeared to show the distance between the two. "The hospital's about 14 miles away from this area, so that means we have 14…"

"It's not the hospital." Savior said, as he reached into a pocket, pulled out his communicator, opened it, and did a quick series of button presses: a line of light shot into Cyborg's arm as Savior hooked up to the map.

"It's not?" Raven asked.

"The hospital's important, but…damn." Savior said. "I don have time to be coy guys, so I'll just say it. I've contacted J'onn up on the Watchtower. You know that big ass nuclear/plasma/cold fusion/something or other gun they have on board the satellite? I told him to set it up to fire. The target is Amity Park." Savior said.

From the shocked looks on their faces, Savior could tell they didn't like the revelation.

"WHAT? NOEL, ARE YOU CRAZY? HOW COULD YOU?" Cyborg yelled.

"What good would that do? Every problem cannot be solved by a huge gun Noel!" Starfire protested.

"You're wrong. The gun may be nuclear, but it can be altered enough to not give off any heat. Just force. It was my final failsafe: if everything else failed, J'onn was going to fire it right on top of Flammadea. My theory was it would be like how they use explosives to put out oil fires, using a destructive force to stop a greater destructive force. The gun packs so much ommpphhh that I think even Flammadea will be blown out like a match…problem is, if he fires it, the blast will destroy Amity Park, and everyone in it. Including the hospital. And us."

The Titans stared…and then a blast of fire came roaring down. But it wasn't Flammadea: it was a fireball from the sky, and the Titans scattered out of the way. Even before the fireball had finished exploding Savior had rolled back up again and resumed talking. He was good at not missing a beat like that

"I know you're thinking that this is insane, but unfortunately, it's not!" Savior said, as he pressed a few buttons on his communicator and the map began to expand outward again, as the females regrouped and looked at the moving topography. "Because with this expanding firecloud, we have a new problem: THIS!" Savior yelled, as the map stopped expanding: it had gone out of Amity Park and a few miles into a mountain range that was outside the city. A new symbol appeared in the mountain hologram.

A biohazard sign.

"I found this when I was checking to see if there was anything in Amity Park that would be really bad to blow up. As it turns out, there's nothing IN Amity Park, but outside the city limits, in the nearby Topaz range…there's a nuclear power plant!" Savior yelled. "It provides power to several cities on the other side of the range! Now…what do you think a rain of fireballs will do to such a establishment?"

The shocked looks were back.

"Meltdown." Cyborg said, as his guts suddenly seized with horror, finally realizing why Savior was calling this step into play.

"Right. Our own little Chernobyl, right in the middle of America! Even IF other people stop Flammadea, the explosion and fallout will kill tens, maybe hundreds of thousands, not to mention leaving a big ass chunk of land in the USA's heartland that no one can step foot onto for the next several eons!" Savior growled. "So guys, I'm afraid this is it. The plant is 32 miles from this point. Which means in about 31 and a half minutes, this fire cloud will reach it! And while we were talking, I sent the signal. J'onn is locked onto our communicators now, with a thirty minute time limit! And before you protest, he can't lock onto Flammadea, I already asked him to try with Sizzle, and he couldn't do that. He has to use us! We're the only way of accurately tracking the shot, and we're the only ones preventing its use! We have thirty minutes to beat her! If we don't, or if she kills us…J'onn fires!"

Silence.

For a bit.

"What do you want to do?" Starfire said in a solemn tone.

"As much as I hate to say it, we don't really have time for schemes or elaborate setups. Our only hope is the Oxygen Destroyer: we do anything and everything to get Flammadea near it, and then we turn it on and hope for the best. And that has to be done in the next…29 minutes and 47 seconds!" Savior yelled.

A few mechanical noises suddenly came from Cyborg, and the Titans started a bit…and then he reached behind him and pulled out a boxlike metal device about the size of a large suitcase from a compartment that had opened on his back. It didn't look like much, but when it opened up…it looked a lot more impressive. Not that you could really look at it: you'd be too busy trying to keep air in your lungs.

"Here's the Oxygen Destroyer. It's charged and ready: all I have to do is press the button." Cyborg said.

"Raven, you take it. Keep it shielded." Savior said. "The rest of you…well…"

And then Savior thrust out his hand.

"Seems oddly appropriate." He commented.

The Titans didn't reply: they just looked at the hand for a few seconds and then placed their hands on it as well.

The Titans shared a look.

And then they broke apart, turning towards the wrecked building they had been hiding behind, leaping and flying over it…

And finding Flammadea floating there waiting for them.

"Well well, the rats finally leave their holes." Flammadea said. Her voice had an odd tone: it was angry, but not an angry the Titans had heard before. All her previous rages had been of the mad foaming at the mouth and the icy-cool (even if she wasn't) totally squash the annoying bugs variety. This was different. She sounded…_cross._

"All that twaddle about fighting me, and then you shine a flashlight in my face and scurry off for a chat." Flammadea said. Savior's heart plunged into his stomach: she'd overheard them. She knew their plan. They were all dead…

"What were you chatting about anyway?" Flammadea asked. Savior wasn't sure if he managed to successfully hide his relief and not tip his hand to Flammadea and make her realize they had been talking about something that could affect her, but Flammadea didn't seem to notice. "Well, what does it matter? Not only can you not beat me, you don't seem to want to even put forth the effort. Fine. You aren't worthy to fight me." Flammadea said, as she raised her hands. "But I have something just your speed!"

And four balls of fire flew from her hands. The Titans began to recoil…and stopped when the balls did as well, floating in front of Flammadea.

Then they began to expand.

And morph…

And take on attributes that the Titans found VERY familiar.

"Oh dear." Savior said, as the fireballs finished their transformation.

Much like before, in the fight between Savior and a Sizzle possessed Starfire, Flammadea had formed creatures of flame. But this time, they weren't generic humanoids.

This time, they were exact flame duplicates of the Titans.

"Play nicely!" Flammadea said, and flew up into the sky, laughing. Savior's head jerked to follow her.

"No! She can't, don't…!" Savior babbled.

And then the flame clones were swooping down, and the Titans scattered as the fiery creatures went after them, intent on their destruction.

"Ah dammit fuck! Damnit to hell!" Savior cursed, at the moment more angry that Flammadea had flown out of reach then worried that a fire clone of him was swooping down, swinging its arms back. His priorities were quickly rearranged when Fire-Savior lashed his arms out and burning lines of flame, a picture perfect Shimmer copy, lashed at him. Savior did a backflip that he turned into a Shimmer assisted handspring as the fire lines sliced down where he had been and cleaved through the stone wreckage of the building with a powerful hissing noise. Savior did a few more backflips and looked around, trying to find Raven, and noting that his other teammates were being attacked by their respective fire clones…including Raven, who was flying up the side of a building, chased by her fiery duplicate. He thought she saw him, and he made a frantic gesture that he hoped she interpreted as "Get the Oxygen Destroyer to cover", and then twin lines of fiery power, their ends sharpened to a deadly point (overkill, anyone?) were lancing at him, and Savior was forced to dodge aside, the points taking off a bit of his slowly disintegrating jacket, and then showing insane speed they stopped their stab and lashed to the side at him. Savior ducked, almost too late, as the fire Shimmers sheared off a few spiky hair tips. The scent of his own burning follicles finally re-awoke the battle instincts within Savior, and he rolled to the side and fired out HIS Shimmer, three lines combining into a whirling fan…a fan that was intercepted by more fiery lines. Savior's eyes widened: the flame clone of him, lacking any kind of face at all, did not betray anything in return.

Only the slight vibrating at the ground allowed Savior to guess the coming counter and leap out of the way as blazing tendrils stabbed out of the ground where he had been, the white teen barely escaping being shis-ke-bobed…and then being rudely reminded that the Shimmer was still tangled up in his clone's fiery copy as Fire-Savior swung him around and slammed him into another building.

A fire claw ripped out a chunk of roof where Raven had just been, as she flew back, holding the Oxygen Destroyer via a dark energy sphere, and wondering what to do about this fire clone that was mercilessly pursuing her, not giving her a chance to breathe, let alone put down the sole way of defeating Flammadea (who was up in the sky still, watching, amused). Fire-Raven, possessing only a shadowy blankness beyond her beaked hood, thrust out a hand, and several stabbing fire spears lanced at Raven. Raven flew above them, and with a chant of her trademark spell, she pulled debris from the roof and hurled it at her fiery clone.

The debris just went through the copy's body.

Raven said a word Savior would be shocked that Raven knew, let alone used, and banked to a hard right…and found another flaming claw ripping at her. It got some of her cloak, as Raven did an insane backwards loop and plunge down, heading down into a narrow alleyway. Spying a garbage dumpster, she took what life gave her and swung the Oxygen Destroyer into it, whispering a spell as she let go of the device. The dark power didn't fade as the machine went into the dumpster: instead it spread and covered the construct, giving the metal trash receptacle some protection…and also giving Raven a feeling like someone had reached into her chest and squeezed her heart, life doing its best impression of the villain from _Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom._ She'd been pushing herself too hard today, and she was starting to burn out.

And then fiery balls of stone, thrown by a mimicked power and alight by a cruel mistress' gift, were flying down at Raven, and she flew out of the alleyway, barely dodging the onslaught, as Fire-Raven flew down from the roof, red flame power clawing and ripping at the goth sorceress.

Starfire had immediately taken to the air, but her fire doppelganger proved to be as fast as her, shadowing her almost perfectly as it fired flaming versions of her Starbolts, the red projectiles slamming into buildings, streets, and cars, and generating explosions all along the way. Starfire wasn't panicking yet though: Flammadea may have copied her but even she couldn't perfectly duplicate Koriand'r, warrior princess of Tamaran (even IF she had possessed her, but Raven's blanking spell had gotten rid of those memories, though Starfire now wished Raven had increased the chronological length of the spell and made her forget what she absorbed from Maddie Fenton as well, it might have been a factor in this battle, MAYBE!): one of the first things Tamarans learned how to do was fly and Starfire prided herself on being VERY, VERY good at it.

And she proved it, as she executed insane move after insane move as her clone chased her, barraging her with Firebolts, but she hit nothing but Amity Park (and oh man, was this battle starting to put a dent in the beleaguered city. Well, at least there was no one in it)…until Starfire managed to fake her out, as she did a sudden stop and reverse, the fire replica shooting past her, as Starfire thrust out her hands and let loose with a barrage of Starbolts. Her attack flew true, slamming into the flame facsimile, exploding…and then vanishing as the flame duplicate reappeared, having absorbed the heat, and as a voice in the back of Starfire's head chimed in, reminding her that Sizzle had been able to do that, so as Flammadea she could surely imbue her creations with that ability, the fire clone formed a gigantic blast above its head and letting loose. Starfire dodged out of the way, just in time, and as the huge blast flew on and struck the upper floors of a building, blowing them to oblivion, the alien turned and walked/flew right into a pistoning punch that sent her plummeting down into the streets with a powerful crash, shards of concrete flying up from her impact. She gasped, and then her wits were recollected as she tried to remember what had happened to her ice cannon. She'd had it when she was flying back from Flammadea's original blow, then Cyborg had waved her down to the street to protect her from his light bomb, and she'd put it down, and then…she'd left it there, forgotten due to Noel's sudden imposing of a time limit on this whole mess. Well, her Starbolts weren't working, maybe the ice cannon would.

Assuming she made it back to it, as a rain of Firebolts came down on Starfire, and she yelped and took off down the street, her clone following her, continuing the attack. And with its blasts and the fact that the clouds were still disgorging its own fiery missiles that kept coming down in their midst when the Titans least expected it, Starfire wasn't having the most fun time. But her eyes were alight with a steely determination: she did not consider she might NOT make it back to the gun. Such thinking was not Tamaranian.

The gun's builder, Cyborg, probably could have used some Tamaranian optimism, considering that he was in a pretty bad way. Well, so were all the Titans, but Cyborg had one main problem over them: his big bulky battle body (alliteration is fun!) prevented him from making quick escapes.

And in this current situation, that would have been a boon, as he swung his huge fist at Fire-Cyborg…and the metal limb went right through the flame duplicate's body.

The same could not be said in reverse, as Fire-Cyborg cocked back his arm and slammed it into Cyborg's metal chest. Cyborg's whole form rattled, and his heat meters briefly spiked up into the red before going back down. Cyborg wasn't following their lead though, as he pulled himself back from the fire clone and lashed out with a backhand.

That proved to be as effective as the first blow, as in, it failed to have any effect whatsoever.

And Fire-Cyborg's second blow proved to be even MORE effective then his first blow, as it thrust up a leg, far quicker then Cyborg could have managed to (fire doesn't have weight, after all) and rammed it into Cyborg's gut. Cyborg flew back and crashed into the base of another building, rubble crumbling around him. Growling, Cyborg lifted his right arm and let loose with his super sonic cannon. The blast went right through Fire-Cyborg's chest, as Fire-Cyborg mimicked the move and fired off an intense blast of concentrated fire. Cyborg converted his other arm into a shield and blocked it, and winced/groaned as the street began to actually melt beneath him, his heat meters creeping up again. Well, hitting it didn't seem to be working, maybe his ice cannon would actually work…

And then Fire-Cyborg was charging Cyborg like a bull, his massive body, gaining and losing density as needed, ramming into Cyborg and sending them both crashing through the building as it collapsed around them.

They exploded out onto another street, their gigantic racket briefly catching the attention of Savior, before he leapt to the side to avoid another lancing Fire-Shimmer line. Savior countered with a myriad of stabbing Shimmer lines of his own, but his clone proved to be just as adept as dodging via his talent as Noel was himself, as it danced away from all the attacks, seized two nearby cars, and hurled them at Savior. Savior smacked one aside and sliced the other one in half via the Shimmer…and then burning lines lanced across his chest, blistering new wounds on Savior's poor flesh, even as it threw him backwards.

Starfire flew up, holding her ice cannon: she had succeeded in reaching it. Though it was proving to be a hollow victory: Fire-Starfire kept dodging her shots and returning fire with her own, and encumbered by the large gun, Starfire couldn't move as effectively as her clone. And it cost her, as she tried to dodge and protect her weapon at the same time and took a blast on the shoulder, sending her crashing down onto a roof. On another roof, Raven finished chanting an ice spell and sent a wave of terribly cold wind at Fire-Raven…only to have the duplicate curl up into flame and seemingly disappear. Raven goggled at the apparent copying of her teleporting ability, and then realized it wasn't an exact copy, but a reasonable facsimile, and that saved her as she whirled and flew away as Fire-Raven, having turned her body into a rapidly moving stream of flame that had zoomed along the ground and formed behind Raven, reappeared and lashed out with grasping claws of fire, barely missing the sorceress. Raven threw more debris at the clone, but it failed to work, again, and Raven was once again forced to retreat.

Cyborg didn't have that luxury, due to the aforementioned large body, and he really hated that fact as Fire-Cyborg pummeled him with flame bullets fired from an exact copy of Cyborg's gatling guns. When Flammadea made a clone, she really went all the way, and Cyborg really hated THAT too.

A brief glance upward let him see Starfire and her duplicate back in the air and continuing their battle, and then Fire-Cyborg was charging at Cyborg again, swinging a flaming fist. This time, Cyborg managed to get away, as he ignited his rockets and boosted over the charging behemoth…and then screamed as Fire-Cyborg turned and shot fiery copies of missiles at him, blowing him out of the sky. He crashed to the ground, face first, and groaned as he started to get him.

He heard a loud smack, and then Savior tumbled over to his front, coming to a stop face up on his back.

"So, how's it going?" Savior asked, as if the Titans were having a picnic instead of fighting for their lives against their evil flame twins.

"Badly."

"Horrendously." Savior replied, as he got up, somehow (Cyborg was constantly amazed at the beatings Noel could take. He knew part of it was Noel forming last instant Shimmer shields on the parts of his body that were about to strike or crash into something, but those only saved him from becoming a broken mess and didn't really help with the pain. But when it came to doing what he thought was right, Noel could muster a demonic willpower that rivaled Slade's at times. When it worked for the Titans, it made Cyborg proud to have him as an ally and a friend. When it worked AGAINST the Titans…well, those are other tales…). Savior snorted as he looked at his approaching clone, and then glanced back over his shoulder at Cyborg…and spied Cyborg's own clone approaching.

A gleam came into his eye.

"You know Vic, we're doing pretty bad in this little dance…" Savior said, as he turned back to face his personal attacker…

And then he whirled, Shimmer strands springing out and grabbing Cyborg's shoulder.

"So why don't we SWITCH PARTNERS!" Savior yelled, as he yanked/hurled himself over Cyborg and directly at Fire-Cyborg, tucking into a ball that was instantly sheathed over by the Shimmer, a ball that flew right into Fire-Cyborg's chest, the flame consuming Savior, as Fire-Cyborg kept coming…and then stopped as Shimmer lines sprang out from every part of him, his body instantly becoming a sea urchin…as Savior grabbed the ground for leverage and then turned his body into a whirling dervish, right within Fire-Cyborg, and before the large clone knew it his body had been torn apart and scattered, his form ripped into a thousand wisps of flame that flickered out of existence as Savior fell to the ground.

Cyborg watched this, and then a big grin split his face as he turned, his left arm opening up as he began to charge his ice cannon. Fire-Savior seemed to possess enough cognitive function to understand what was going on, as the walking flame doppelganger broke into a sprint towards Cyborg, as he aimed…

And then suddenly turned and swung upward, as Starfire flew overhead, her fire copy in literal hot pursuit.

"PSYCHE!"

The ice cannon fired, a wide range and immensely powerful beam. Fire-Starfire never saw what hit her, as the enormous blast of icy energy swept over her body and snuffed out the flame instantly, even as ice formed so quickly it left behind a statue of the clone in mid-air. A statue that swiftly fell to the ground, shattering into a thousand pieces.

Starfire was too stunned by this sudden turn to do much…but Raven certainly wasn't. She hadn't overheard the plan, but she had seen Savior do his sudden reverse move, and she wasn't the only one who could act fast, as she suddenly swooped away from her fire replica and swung down to where Fire-Savior was still charging, about to attack Cyborg…at least until the ground, covered in dark power, buckled under him like a wave, the street being rippled like someone waving a towel out to place it on the ground, throwing the flame duplicate back down the street…and then Fire-Raven was on Raven, lashing out with a claw…a claw Starfire froze with a blast from her ice cannon, turning the limb and part of Fire-Raven's body to crystal, a crystal that Starfire used as she swooped down and rammed into the frozen part of Fire-Raven, knocking her back over the roof and to another street, Starfire pursuing, and Raven nodded to herself and disappeared into her black energy.

She reappeared before the arising Fire-Savior, and despite any type of a face whatsoever, Raven could still tell it was perturbed. A perturbation it seemed quite willing to relieve on her hide, as it thrust out its arms, fire Shimmers flowing out and forming into a score of terrible weapons, cruel tools, things that could do unthinkable things to a human body.

The clone cocked his head, as if asking Raven what she thought about what it was going to do to her.

"It's not the size asshole, it's how you use it." Raven replied.

And she looked at the fire hydrant near Fire-Savior, and with a quick mental command a surge of black power ripped it open and sprayed out a powerful stream of water, water that was expanded into a smothering sheet by more dark energy, water that reared up and poofed Fire-Savior right back into the oblivion he had come from.

"Too bad you couldn't learn that from the original." Raven finished, and then leaned over, panting. She was really feeling tired…she could use a nice long nap…though preferably one she could wake up from…

Starfire leapt down to the street, doing a whirling flip before she landed on her feet, her gun at the ready, but she had briefly lost sight of her new opponent…and that was all Fire-Raven needed, as it appeared behind Starfire and lashed out. Starfire sensed it enough to turn, but not enough to avoid her gun being knocked from her hands again. Starfire went with the blow, flying backwards to avoid three more fiery claws ripping from the ground at her, as her mind raced. Her Starbolts were useless, her gun was gone, what did she have…

Well, until she found something, she'd improvise. A large chunk of broken concrete and rock was near her, the ejecta of one of the many explosions: Starfire picked it up and hurled it at Fire-Raven.

Fire-Raven caught the bolder with a flaming claw and crushed it, effortlessly, the hard stone becoming black ash within two seconds, but in those two seconds Starfire had retreated back some more, and was now picking up a small car, a car she also threw. Fire-Raven caught that and crushed it as well, the exploding gas tank briefly bathing her in flames that she walked through…just in time for Starfire to throw a newspaper box at her. It met the same fate.

But Starfire was like a broken record, seemingly stuck on her one-note strategy, as she flew back, ripped a parking meter from the ground, and hurled it at Fire-Raven like a spear. Catch, crush, goodbye. It didn't slow Starfire down one iota, as she hurled off another car, a mailbox, a motorcycle, a trash can, another trash can, a door she'd ripped from a storefront, random desk furniture that was lying in the street due to it being blown out of the upper stories of an attacked office building, a manhole cover, and yes, even a kitchen sink. All of them were caught and crushed by Fire-Raven, who was clearly getting more and more irritated…

So it didn't look when the latest object was thrown at it: it just caught it and started crushing it…

And then, looking at the bright red cylindrical object, even as it caved in under her power, she realized what she was squashing.

A fire extinguisher.

The white carbon dioxide gas sprayed out in a thick cloud, enveloping Fire-Raven and completely canceling out all the oxygen that fed her body, the form crumpling and vanishing as quickly as the cloud of white mist.

Starfire smirked.

"LOLLYPOP." She said.

Brief pause.

And then a cough, and Starfire turned to see Savior nearby, Raven and Cyborg with him. They'd finally caught up to her.

"SUCKER, Star." Savior said. "It's SUCKER."

"…Oh." Starfire said, and then she blushed, just a tad. A blush that quickly exchanged a letter as it became a flush, a flush of rage as Starfire remembered their original target.

"All right Flammadea, we beat your pathetic toys, now why don't…" Starfire said, as she looked up…

And found Flammadea gone.

And from the sudden rush of great heat behind Starfire, she didn't need to wonder long where she had vanished, as her eyes widened as she turned, expecting a sneak attack.

None came. Flammadea just floated there, back in her 'normal' size again, her arms crossed and her face merry. Whether her newly found power finally helped squash her misery, or maybe her acting was just that proficient, Flammadea certainly seemed content.

"I believe you were going to ask me to come down and fight?" She asked.

Silence.

With a scream, Starfire flew at her, pistoning out her fist.

Flammadea snapped her head to the side, Starfire flying past her like a rocket.

Raven was next, as she flew up and swooped down, lancing a (dark power protected) kick at Flammadea. Flammadea ducked/dodged, as Raven missed her as well.

Shimmer lines flew at her, dozens of them, slashing, stabbing, poking, and twirling at Savior made his assault. Flammadea dodged away from all of them, and then did a full leg split as Savior wound up and lanced at her with a final blow, a Shimmer blade the size of the average telephone pole slashing over Flammadea's head, missing as Savior flew over her body. Flammadea hopped back up…

And Cyborg was there, rearing up one huge arm and bringing it down with all his might. His blow would have smashed a tank.

Flammadea caught it with one arm.

"Farewell." She said.

And she twisted and punched her other fist into Cyborg's left arm, ripping the appendage from his socket like Cyborg's special high-grade titanium frame was a cheap bootleg toy.

Cyborg didn't scream. It wasn't because he didn't feel the amputation: the computer feedback of the damage was pretty damn close to human pain: he was just so shocked at the suddenness of it all.

Which let Flammadea leapt up and spin, slamming her foot into Cyborg's chest and sending him flying like he was made of paper. He tumbled and crashed across the street, smashing giant potholes and sending cars and burning frames of cars flying into buildings or being crushed underfoot, or rather underbody.

Flammadea landed from her leap, looked at the arm she had removed from her foe, and then tossed it aside.

And then a giant axe of white energy came crashing down on her.

Flammadea's body exploded into fire and flowed away as the axe cleaved a seven-foot gash in the concrete, and even as she was reforming Savior was doing the same to his talent, turning it into a gigantic sword and thrusting it forward at Flammadea. She leapt lazily to avoid it, doing a slow backflip and landing, holding out her hand. Savior frantically called back the energy and reformed it into a shield as several fireballs flew from Flammadea's hand, smashing against the shield and driving Savior to his knees. Growling, he dispelled the shield and glared at Flammadea.

And then Starfire shot past him like a bullet, the alien zapping past her leader, on a collision course with Flammadea, her fist back and ready to slam into Flammadea's form.

Flammadea beat her to the punch, literally, as she zipped forward and slammed out her own fist, going so fast Starfire never saw her coming. The blow smashed the alien backwards at even higher speed. She flew back past Savior, whose head jerked to follow her as she flew down the length of the very long street and crashed into the building at the end of it. Savior jerked his head back to face Flammadea, who had not moved from where she had punched Starfire.

Starfire didn't mirror the inertia, as a rumble came from the distance street as she exploded from the building she had been smashed into, zapping down the street again, flying past Savior again, her face a mask of rage, and zooming it to strike Flammadea again.

Flammadea just continued to look amused, as tendrils of flame emerged from her back and formed crude cannon shapes that blasted white streams of heat. The beams struck the street, vaporizing the stone, but it didn't slow Starfire down in the least as she dodged around them, closing in, and striking out her fist…

Flammadea vaporized into a fiery cloud, and Starfire's arm plunged into it. She screamed in utter agony, a sound that struck Savior to his core as he remembered what he had done to the alien, and the reason that it was so chilling: it was very difficult to make a Tamaranian scream like that. They were very tough: to have one wail like an infant…

Really wasn't all that surprising in this case, as Flammadea reformed, just under the still floating Starfire, and kicked upward into her gut, sending her flying up, crashing through the roof of another building at an angle and disappearing into the distance. Flammadea reverted to a vertical stance…and found Savior charging at her, Shimmer lines lashing and whipping in front of him. She smirked with one corner of her mouth, and raised an arm to counter whatever he had planned.

She hadn't though all his possible plans through though, as Savior continued his charge, thrust up his arms…and slammed them down as the Shimmer propelled him off the ground and into the air. Flammadea looked up at this…as Shimmer strands brought Savior's ice guns (retrieved while Raven and Starfire had taken care of the final two fire clones) to his hands, and also revealed Starfire's ice cannon, which he had been hiding behind him when he had been running, as well. Savior triggered all three at maximum power, the three beams combining and sending a blast of cold power down that would have stopped a volcanic eruption. The entire street and the buildings began to ice up, and Savior poured on the cold power, not relenting in the slightest.

But while the blasts may have stopped a volcano…perhaps that was a normal volcano. And when it came to comparing her to volcanoes, Flammadea was Krakatoa, a juggernaut of fiery power, as she erupted from the ice beams, flying up and next to Savior before he realized what was going on. Flammadea waved at him, and several tendrils of fire from her back and her 'dress' shot out and grabbed him, burning at his outfit as Flammadea spun around a few times, causing Savior to lose his guns again as he screamed and yelled, and then flew down towards the street. The road, already weakened by the destruction, caved in easily as Flammadea drove Savior into the sewers. Flying back up a bit, she called up a small fireball.

"Wonder how well ventilated the sewers are." She commented, and sent the fireball down into the hole she had made.

The answer was, not very.

An explosion blasted upward from the road, as the methane within the sewer, the gaseous product of waste, which was also very flammable, ignited and detonated. Flammadea had apparently picked a great spot where the methane was highly concentrated, as the whole street erupted in an explosion, and then collapsed in on itself, the rumbling like an earthquake, even as manhole covers blew off their tunnels and drains belched fire for streets around. Content, Flammadea flew off. Even if that white haired fool had somehow survived that, she doubted he had anything left that could pose as a threat to her. She set herself down on another street, it being merely battered by her falling fireballs and strewn with flaming wreckage.

And also containing several missiles, missiles that flew at Flammadea from the end of the street. They exploded and assaulted her body with piercing ultrasonic waves…waves that no longer had any effect on her. She turned towards their source and waved a finger in a chastising way at Cyborg, and then headed for him.

Cyborg hadn't expected the missiles to work: he just wanted Flammadea's attention. He may have lost an arm (and it may have been the arm containing his ice cannon, damn it to hell) but he hasn't lost the will to fight, as his shoulders and chest opened up and several new cannons began firing, all concussion style weapons, the blasts generating no heat. Their barrage would have easily caved in the thick stone walls of Fort Knox: Flammadea didn't even seem to notice them as she flew forward. But Cyborg was certainly sure she'd notice this, as he continued his ineffective barrage, all the while diverting power to his super sonic cannon. Cyborg didn't want J'onn to be using the Watchtower weapon, but he understood why Savior thought it would work, and he was SURE that if he really pushed himself his cannon could generate the impact needed…

Flammadea was on him, laughing and firing fireballs, from her hands and more of her flame tendrils. Cyborg's meters starting rising again, spiking and staying in the red, and his computer began to tell him that he was starting to overheat, but Cyborg ignored it, he had to let Flammadea get close, close…close…

"I wonder if I can get a decent oven out of your remains!" Flammadea laughed, as she drew in within feet of Cyborg.

And his cannon finally hit maximum power.

"HOW ABOUT A STEREO!" Cyborg bellowed, as he thrust the arm out. Flammadea arched an eyebrow.

The wide-spread beam completely enveloped the fiery divinity, the blast of power shaking Amity Park for several blocks around. Anything caught by the blast was either tossed aside like a toy or torn apart into scrap, as cars and other street fixtures were shattered and thrown by the blast. The shot struck the building at the end of the street and completely smashed it to smithereens, the impact having enough force to smash through that building and rip apart the one behind it, and enough left over to smash into the building across the street from the second one and make it wobble and then come crashing down as well.

Cyborg lowered his cannon, panting and coughing on the dust sweeping over everything.

"So tell me…"

Cyborg's veins froze, as Flammadea was revealed, not harmed in the slightest, her flaming hair flowing around her as she cocked her head and regarded Cyborg.

"Was that your best shot?"

Cyborg didn't reply, as he stared in utter horror at Flammadea.

And then, with a bellow, he brought his arm back and swiped it at Flammadea. The flame goddess easily dodged it, as well as Cyborg's thrusting side-kick.

Starfire watched from the roof perch she had landed on, her heart swelling with the desire to go down and help her comrade…but her slight movement reminded her of why she had yet to act on that desire, as a bolt of terrible pain shot through her being. She moaned and again looked at her right arm, horrifically burned, her orange skin hanging off in parts, two of her fingers nearly fused together. Starfire had been hurt before, but her innate toughness and power made it far harder for her to be burned then a human…but Flammadea had succeeded, rendering her arm useless. But she had to help…

"Kory…"

Starfire looked up, away from Cyborg as he spun in a spinning roundhouse blow with his remaining arm, Flammadea dodging again, as Raven floated down. She landed, a bit unsteady…an unsteadiness that faded when she got an up close look at Starfire's arm. "Oh god."

"It's ok…just a flesh wound." Starfire said, smiling through her pain.

"Right, and a hole through the head is a good thing." Raven replied. She was tired, more tired then she wanted to admit. Too much spell casting with too little preparation time. Her fire charms, her block-repossession spell, blocking the Sumerian ritual, protecting the hospital, not to mention only several hours rest from the previous Sizzle/Flammadea fight and the fact that she had to do the healing…it was adding up to be too much, which is why she hadn't returned until now: after her missed kick, she'd tried to teleport for another blow and nearly found herself passing out. She'd retreated and tried to catch her breath, and then attempted another comeback. But even flying was becoming hard for her now. She was certainly in no shape to fight: the little strength she had would be useless against the power Flammadea had now, the power she continued to use to dart around Cyborg, toying with him.

But what she had left…it was enough for something else, as she reached out, (very) lightly touched Starfire's burned arm, and concentrated. She snarled/screamed through her teeth as she took Starfire's pain, all the nerves in her arm igniting, even as the wounds of Starfire's closed up and vanished. The agony drove her to her knees, and Starfire quickly followed to check on her.

"Raven!"

"Kory…listen…" Raven whispered. "I have a spell for you. I think it's the only way we can annoy Flammadea enough to get her…but…you have to understand…"

"Raven, you're exhausted…"

"That doesn't MATTER!" Raven snapped. "I refuse to let that tormented soul share her venom with the world! She has to be stopped! Even if…there are consequences…" Raven said, coughing. Consequences, always consequences. Most of them severe. Raven sometimes wondered if the reason she had survived this long was if someone up above liked or hated her.

"Starfire…I'm going to cast a special ice spell on you. Normally…it would be a kind of death spell…I'd breathe cold into you and freeze your body into a statue…but…with a few altered words…I won't kill your body with ice, I'll imbue it with ice." Raven said. "But Starfire…even with the modifications…the spell will only work…for you…if you stay close to Flammadea! It will protect you from her heat…mostly…because if you don't stay close…it will freeze you from within…killing you…"

Starfire just stared, her eyes wide and solemn…and then she nodded.

"How long will it last?" She asked.

"A few…maybe five minutes." Raven said. "After that…"

"I understand! Do it! Before she grows bored with Victor!" Starfire said. Raven nodded, and then began chanting under her breath.

It took a lot to wind Cyborg: his mechanical body hooked up to his still remaining organs allowed him certain liberties that humans didn't have when it came to physical exertion. But that was when he was normal, not encased in this extra mass of robotics he had brought hoping it could make a difference. But he'd made his bed and he had no choice but to lie in it, even as he punched and kicked and even tried to shoulder-ram Flammadea a few times. Flammadea dodged them anyway, and Cyborg knew she was just amusing herself before she went in for the kill.

Her look certainly showed that, as she flipped away from another stomping kick and stopped, in front of Cyborg, even as Cyborg reared up and swung out his arm one last time…

Flammadea didn't move this time.

Cyborg's arm went right through her, her image distorting and then clearing like someone whose reflection was in a puddle dropped a pebble on it. Cyborg nearly fell on his face from the momentum, even as he processed what he had just seen…and grew even more horrified.

No wonder he hadn't been able to hit Flammadea, even with his sonic cannon blast. She was immaterial, a literal ghost. Which made sense: if his fire clone was intangible, why wouldn't its master be? I mean…how did you punch fire anyway?

He'd been worthless the whole time: his whole strategy had been like trying to put out a campfire by poking it. You needed something much bigger then a finger to put out a campfire…like a large rock. But in this case, their 'large rock', wouldn't just (in theory) put out the fire, it'd put THEM and this entire town 'out' as well.

And it was his refusal to let that happen, no matter what, that drew Cyborg to draw back his arm and lash out at Flammadea again, even if he couldn't hit her, because he would not give up the fight…!

Flammadea caught his arm again.

"Enough. This grows tiresome." Flammadea said, and crushed/melted the end of his arm like it was a plastic bag. Cyborg screamed, and then Flammadea was right up against him, pressing her hand against his chest.

"Say hi to Robert Patrick's most famous role." Flammadea said, and lashed out, pouring heat into Cyborg, and he screamed again, as his heat meters went shooting into the horizon and then completely overloaded, as his entire body began to glow dully…

Cyborg's scream reached Starfire's eyes, and her eyes widened.

"Raven…!" She said frantically. Raven did not cease her chanting to reply: Starfire had thought as much. Cyborg screamed again, and Starfire had to resist everything she had within her to just turn and fly to his aid right away.

A third scream…and a terrible stench. Starfire threw away any resistance she had and stood up.

And then Raven grabbed her wrist.

"Volmoutous IEBODIOUS!" She finished, as she yanked Starfire back down to face her, and (glad the reporters had left the town in fear), grabbed Starfire by the sides of her head, and brought her forward as she pressed her lips against the female alien's.

Yes, she was VERY glad no one would be taking a picture of this, but as she had mentioned, she was originally a death spell, and it was delivered this way, as Raven exhaled another terrible cold out of her and into Starfire. She'd wished she'd had time to explain that part…but she hadn't. For her part, Starfire was just shocked, first by the faux kiss and then by the chill that immediately began seeping through her. Raven held the 'kiss' for another several seconds before she pulled away, gasping out one last trail of icy air before she collapsed.

"Go! Before it starts to harm you!" Raven gasped. Starfire didn't need to be told twice: the chill was already starting to cramp her muscles, freeze her heart (though oddly the freezing felt like acid reflux, or as it was ironically known, heartburn), and chill her skin in a way she had never known (she could fly comfortably in hard vacuum, forgive her for never really knowing the sensation). Starfire flew up and off, as Raven lay on the roof.

Cyborg's body was beginning to lose cohesion, his limbs starting to sag, the metal protective shield around his head starting to collapse in towards Cyborg, as he screamed, his computers going nuts and starting to shut down, even as the heat began to penetrate to his actual body and…

Starfire swooped down, as she slashed out her fist and an icy aura extended out around it, striking Flammadea and sending her flying off into the distance. The heat in Cyborg suddenly vanished, and he gasped as his metallic body rapidly cooled off without the outside source to heat it up.

"Victor…?" Starfire asked.

"GO!" He ordered, and Starfire complied, flying after Flammadea. Being in close to her HAD eased the immense discomfort within her: she'd go after the psychotic fire spirit for that reason alone.

But nothing could ease Cyborg's immense discomfort. He had been saved from being melted, but now he had a new problem: Flammadea had completely destroyed all the joints within his battle body, the mechanisms melted and then fused together. He was a statue, completely stuck.

Starfire made up for his lack of motion though, as she flew like a bullet towards the recovering Flammadea, who shook her head, surprised, and then watched as Starfire approached.

"Well, that was a surprise." She said.

Starfire lanced in with a punch: Flammadea dodged to the side, and found herself going straight into an outward punch with Starfire's other arm, the cold aura driving into her body like Danny's fist had gone through her flesh shield when she had been in Sam. The memory of that re-awoke her anger, and she lashed out with a kick, knocking Starfire downward. Starfire flew down a few feet, then spun around and flew back up, punching again. Flammadea, irritated, dodged away and around Starfire and then flew up into the sky, spinning around as her palm glowed and she fired off a white fireball. The blast flew at Starfire…and like Danny, she smashed it aside, the ball flying off and blowing a hole in a nearby street as the alien flew up after Flammadea.

Raven saw some of this, via telepathy, but she wasn't gladdened: the spell wouldn't last long. They had to get the Oxygen Destroyer, and only she knew where it was. She attempted to locate the others, but all she found was Cyborg. Savior was either unconscious or worse. Raven didn't dwell on that: if they didn't move they'd ALL be 'or worse.'

"Guys!" She 'thought'. "I left the Oxygen Destroyer in a dumpster in an alleyway right at the corner of John and Thomas! It's about three blocks from where I am! GET IT! QUICKLY! NOW! NOW!"

Cyborg heard the voice ringing in his head, and he listened. His body may have been a melted, useless wreck…but Cyborg ALWAYS planned ahead. And while nearly all his computers were fried and offline, there was enough circuitry left intact to execute this last desperation move. Though he'd hated it at the time, he was glad Flammadea had heated him from the outside going in instead of the opposite ala a microwave, because that might have resulted in the premature detonation of these.

As several small canisters of liquid nitrogen blew, sealed within his arms, legs and chest. The canisters had been very small, but there was enough to instantly start freezing his body, and since the metal was still hot from Flammadea…

"NOW WE'RE GETTING BACK TO BASICS!" Cyborg yelled as he unattached his arms and legs from their constraints and thrust them out, the metallic exoskeleton shattering as he fell to the ground, back to his normal cyborg form. "Guess I took after Mr. Patrick's role after all."

And then a fireball came soaring down from the sky, Flammadea's rain of fire reminding Cyborg of its continuance, as he yelped and dove out of the way, rolling up to his feet as the area he had been standing on smoldered. He was glad he'd gotten out of his bigger robot combat suit: if he'd still been stuck in it that fireball would have come down right on top of him and that would have been unpleasant to say the least…

"VICTOR! GO!" Raven ordered, and Cyborg complied, running off as he called up a map of Amity Park.

* * *

Flammadea's arm extended outward as she attacked, lashing out the elongated limb like a whip, but Starfire dodged around it and rammed both her fists into Flammadea's gut. Growling, Flammadea flipped over Starfire's back and spun, slamming a foot into her spine and sending the alien spinning through the air. As Starfire recovered and turned, Flammadea thrust out her arm and the fireballs currently coming down from her fire cloud stopped their descent and turned, called by their mistress to do something more then fall on a random street or building. The fireballs, several dozen in all, assaulted Starfire, as she vanished into an explosive cloud. Flammadea laughed…a laugh that was swiftly cut off as Starfire flew from the cloud, scorched but only slightly due to the spell, and rammed into Flammadea, carrying her down into another Amity Park street. The explosive landing sent nearby cars flying and overturning, as Starfire flew/flipped out and waited. 

A fireball flew at her from the dust over the crater: Starfire dodged away and then spun under a extending lance of flame as she zipped in and kicked Flammadea in the gut…and then was grabbed by one of Flammadea's flame tendrils. Growling louder, Flammadea slammed Starfire into the ground and then threw her into one of the nearby buildings, a convenience store. A fireball swiftly followed her, an explosion blasting out from within the structure…and then Starfire crashed out through the roof and then zapped down in a tight zig-zag, slamming her foot into Flammadea's upward-turning face and driving her deeper into the crater.

* * *

Cyborg wasn't the fastest Titan (hence why he liked to build vehicles, they got him around), but this was made even worse by the amount of debris on the road and the still falling fireballs. He had noticed that the fireballs seemed to be more about impact then heat: whenever one struck the actual fire fizzled out almost immediately, and hence the fireballs tended to punch holes in things more then ignite them (though if enough hit, fire certainly sprang up, but it explained why the fires were so far in isolated pockets and not everywhere). But Cyborg wasn't letting that get him down, not with the situation at hand. He'd checked his clock: they had twenty-four minutes left. That might have seemed like a lot of time…but then again… 

Cyborg found Thomas Street and headed down it. He'd taken four steps when a fireball shrieked overhead and slammed into a battered building in front of him. The structure, fires burning on several floors, finally gave way and started to collapse.

Right in front of Cyborg, as he realized that if this building collapsed in front of him, he'd have to either go around it, over it without his jets, or try and punch through it with his weapons. None of which appealed to him because they cost him time, and time was one thing he didn't have.

So he did the crazy thing, and broke into a sprint towards the falling building, trying to beat the fall and make it past.

Unfortunately, there was no one around to yell "Run Victor, RUN!"

"ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Cyborg screamed as he sprinted into the path of the falling building. "Hey wait a second, I just remembered! I can use my rocket skates!" Cyborg said, and sent an activation signal.

GEAR NOT DETECTED.

"What? What happened to my rocket skates?" Cyborg yelled.

And then he remembered.

(Flashback…)

"Victor, why on earth do you have rocket skates?" Savior asked from where he was sitting in the Titans' training room.

"They can help me get places!" Cyborg replied.

Savior didn't look impressed.

"Uh, really fast?" Cyborg added.

"Maybe…but can they also propel you out of control, leave you with utterly no ability to turn, and most likely smash your heavy, metal body into things that wouldn't do well to have heavy, metal bodies smashed into them, like, say, people?" Savior said, in a calm, reasonable tone. There was no mocking in his voice at all: Noel was just making a suggestion based on his observation. He was good at doing that without offending people, as Cyborg stopped and thought, holding his chin as he did so.

"You really think they'd be more detrimental then helpful?"

"Well Vic, I'm not the cyborg, so I'll just point out they never worked for Wile. E Coyote." Savior said.

"You're right. Guess I'll scrap them."

(end flashback)

"CURSE YOU AND YOUR COMMON SENSE NOEL!" Cyborg bellowed, as the building came down on him. The street exploded in a cloud of dust.

Silence.

And then Cyborg ran through the cloud, coughing. He'd made it, barely.

"Uh…mental note…next time Savior makes a suggestion…don't listen…" Cyborg gasped, more out of relief then exhaustion, as he continued his running. "Ok…it was at Thomas and what…Thomas…and John!" Cyborg said, as he glanced at the road sigh he was running past and saw that it read John. He stopped. "Ok, he said it was in an…alleyway…"

Cyborg trailed off as he saw what lay at one of the corners of John and Thomas: another toppled building, smoking wreckage that occasionally yielded a lick of fire. It had, like many of its brother buildings, collapsed, taking its neighbor down with it.

His stomach suddenly feeling sick, Cyborg stared at the building and then started looking around. That was just one corner. There were three other, unmarred ones. One out of four odds…those weren't bad…

Except Cyborg found no alleyways 'right at' the corner of John and Thomas. And Raven had very acute powers of observation, having honed them so she'd always know where she could grab something to throw. Two of the corners had buildings pressed right up against each other, no alleyways, and the third had an alleyway that was too far away…and which had no dumpster.

Stunned, Cyborg walked back to the fallen building, staring at it. They were screwed. The alleyway in which the dumpster had resided was no more, obliterated by two falling buildings. The Oxygen Destroyer, even IF it had somehow escaped being broken, was buried under tons of rubble. There was no way Cyborg could dig all the way through it. Their last hope to defeat Flammadea was…

A hand came down on Cyborg's shoulder.

Cyborg couldn't help it: he yelped in surprise and whirled around.

"What was that about my common sense?" Savior asked. He was an utter wreck, and barely looked like he could stand up…but he had a Shimmer strand holding the Oxygen Destroyer. Cyborg looked at it in relief.

"Raven can be quite a nag at times." Savior commented, perhaps in regards to why Cyborg had no clue he was going to get help. "Of course, we still have the problem of how we're going to get close to Flammadea."

"I have an idea." Cyborg replied.

* * *

And Flammadea had no idea why Starfire hadn't been reduced to blackened bones: everything the alien girl didn't dodge, she seemed to shrug off. What the hell had happened? 

Well, Flammadea figured she'd solve it eventually. And when she did, she'd roast the alien on a spit, literally. She wondered if she still could still eat…

Starfire was lancing at her with a kick: Flammadea began dodging…and then Starfire suddenly swooped up, doing a quick checkerboard motion over Flammadea, and before Flammadea realized it she was behind her. She turned into the aforementioned kick, sending her flying. Her growling having graduated to snarling, Flammadea flipped over herself and lanced back at Starfire, as she shot out twin blasts of flame. Starfire whirled away from them and tried to get around Flammadea's guard again…and found herself flying into more flame tendrils. Once again, Flammadea hurled Starfire away, this time into the upper floors of an office building. As glass rained down, Flammadea flew up, charging a big blast of flame.

Something flew out at her. Flammadea, reacting on instinct, fired at it.

And blew the fire extinguisher into nothing, as the noxious carbon dioxide cloud plumed out and enveloped her. And while it didn't prove as effective as it had on her fire creations, it was still highly unpleasant to Flammadea, as she gagged and retched…which gave Starfire the time to fly out and slam another punch into her face. Flammadea flew back, skidded along the roof of one building, and then zipped across the street and crashed into another, taller building on the other side.

"Unfortunately for you, it is LIGHTNING that never…strikes twice…" Starfire trailed off from her quip as she suddenly became aware of a certain pain. She looked at her knuckles, the ones on the hand she had used to deliver the punch, and found them reddened. Burned. And come to think of it, her body wasn't feeling so bad away from Flammadea like before…

The spell was wearing off, Starfire realized with a jolt. True, she'd known that was coming, but it was somehow more shocking to see outright evidence of it. She had to use whatever time she had left, and try and do something!

Flammadea exploded out from the building, finding Starfire on a collision course with her. Instead of dodging, she scattered her body, reforming several feet distant. Starfire quickly turned and came after her again, lashing out with a spinning roundhouse that caught Flammadea in the side. Flammadea yelled, but she countered with a punch to Starfire's face that sent the alien girl flying back. She stopped, her face furious, and her fists at the ready…and with a slight red mark on her cheek. Flammadea arched an eyebrow at this, even as Starfire first looked confused at the flame deity's expression and then, as she brought her hand to her face, alarmed at the fact that Flammadea had figured it out.

"Well well, running out of steam?" Flammadea asked.

"You WISH!" Starfire yelled, and charged. Flammadea dodged away from her punches and ducked under her kick, flying down towards the street. Starfire growled and followed, slashing down with another high angled kick, but Flammadea effortlessly flitted away, and all Starfire did was shatter more concrete.

"Come back and fight, you coward!" Starfire yelled.

"No, I think I'd rather just drift around until you feel more like yourself." Flammadea replied.

"You, you…" Starfire said, and then as she blanked on English curse words, she launched into a torrent of profanity in her native tongue. Her words, if properly translated, would have embarrassed a sailor…but Flammadea had no idea what she was saying, so she just floated there, looking amused again.

"Look miss, I don't speak Alienese or whatever you're saying, so stop it. For all I know, you're yelling your mother's favorite cookie recipe at me." Flammadea said.

"I agree. Actions speak louder anyway!" Starfire said, and lifted her fist as she charged forward.

And stopped suddenly as she felt a great pressure within her chest, and before she knew what was happening she suddenly exhaled, violently, a cousin to a burp, as misty air flew from her lungs and evaporated.

Starfire, for a moment, was frozen, which was ironic considering the thing that had happened and the shock that had enveloped her had been the final gasp of the ice spell Raven had cast on her. She was back to her normal self. And hence, quite vulnerable.

And Flammadea knew it too, as she grinned.

"Do you taste like chicken?" She asked.

Starfire flew up and backwards at an angle, at high speed, retreating until she could think of a new plan, but Flammadea wasn't going to give her the time, as she flew up after Starfire…

And then a lashing white whip caught her on the back of her head. She heard the snap more then noticed the blow, and she stopped, turning around. She snorted slightly: it was that damn Savior again.

"Well well, not even the shit wants you." Flammadea commented.

"I'm sure you'd be experienced in that matter." Savior replied. Flammadea frowned, even as Savior jerked his head to the side, loudly cracking his neck, and then resumed his look at Flammadea.

"You know Sizzle, Flammadea, Barbeque, Matchstick, Fernus, whatever the hell you call yourself, I think you've had enough time, and supplies, to, how shall we say, air your grievances…" Savior said.

Flammadea would have blown him up with a look right then and there: she was sick of his speeches…and then it happened.

A squawk sounded behind her, and she turned her heat at the sound…and found Starfire being pulled away by a cord. Quite against her will: her expression clearly showed she had no idea what was going on, a feeling that transferred to Flammadea for a second…

And that second was all Savior needed, as he brought the Oxygen Destroyer from where the Shimmer was hiding it behind his back, not even looking at it as the boxlike device opened up, extending out protrusions and gear that Savior couldn't recognize, as it nearly tripled in size, as Savior drew it back. This had been Cyborg's plan: a double distraction. First Savior slapped Flammadea, then Cyborg grabbed Starfire without telling her he was going to do it. Flammadea might be able to recover from one distraction, but two swift ones had to utterly confuse anyone for a second or two, which was all the time Savior needed to throw the device out, even as it finished arming, and Flammadea looked back at the noise, first at Savior, and then at the device.

"SO YOUR SERVICE HAS BEEN CUT OFF!" Savior yelled, and then inhaled as deeply as he could and turned, leaping away.

And then it started, as Cyborg, having wound Starfire in fully from the building he was standing on, the alien having quit resisting when she saw who it was, and even as he put an oxygen mask over her face he pressed the button in the palm of his hand.

There was a slight whirring, and then it happened immediately, full force: there was no buildup or chance to react, as the Amity Park street suddenly began acting like it was a plane at 30,000 in which a window had shattered, as all the air suddenly began being sucked into the Oxygen Destroyer. What exactly it did with the air to 'destroy' it, or how it kept from being clogged with debris like newspapers and other garbage, Savior didn't know (he'd asked Cyborg, but the explanation had left his head whirling forty seconds in), but he knew that whatever it was, it made the stuff cease to exist.

And you needed oxygen to burn.

And the suction was extremely potent, as Savior looked back from where he was on the street to see if it was working, and his heart leapt as he saw Flammadea's body being pulled down towards it, thought it was clear she was fighting it with all her might, but that didn't seem to be enough as her new form was slowly being yanked down towards the Oxygen Destroyer, the tail of her dress already being drawn in. His heart leapt…and the air within his lungs suddenly started getting sucked out through his nostrils. His eyes widened in shock, and then Shimmer nose plugs formed to cut off the siphoning. It really was powerful suction!

So powerful Savior realized he was starting to be pulled towards it. Apparently he hadn't gotten enough distance in his leap, as he turned around and tried to fight his way away from the suction. He could faintly, very faintly, make out the fact that Flammadea was screaming: the suctioning air was causing some kind of sound distortion, which made sense as air carried sound waves. And there was the fact that he couldn't hold his breath forever, as he continued his struggle.

But it was like walking against a hurricane: the pull was just so strong. Savior felt his feet slipping out from beneath him, and fired off Shimmer lines to anchor himself in the ground. He continued to pull…and then the weakened ground, battered by Flammadea's fire rain and the fire goddess herself, broke from under the Shimmer's grip, and he found himself airborne, out of control. He did not scream: that would make him lose the rapidly depleting store of air he had in his lungs, but his heart did leap with fear, as he tumbled through the air…

And into a mass of floating dark energy, which vanished almost instantly.

The portal reopened near Cyborg and Starfire, as Raven and Savior emerged. The four were now far away enough from the suction that breathing was possible: it was just very difficult. Savior let out his air in a gasp, and found trying to draw a new breath in was like the difference between picking up an apple and picking up a fifty pound weight with one arm, the apple being the usual breathing that people do and the fifty pound weight being what it was like now. Cyborg noticed this, and took the oxygen mask off a now recovered Starfire and gave to Savior. He, however, passed it to Raven, who looked like she needed it more. She took it gratefully, breathing in deeply several times, and then handed it to Savior.

"You ok?" Savior thought. With the Oxygen Destroyer stealing the air needed to breath, much less talk, he figured Raven would be keeping her mind open telepathically.

"I'll live." Raven replied with her mind, as she looked at Flammadea. She was still fighting like mad, but she was losing: her actual body had been drawn down to the Oxygen Destroyer and now her legs were being sucked into it. She kept screaming, but no noise reached the Titans, and every fire attack she attempted was torn away and sucked down before she could manifest enough strength to destroy the Oxygen Destroyer. Nor could she do one of her "look, boom" tricks it seemed: that require concentration and this situation didn't seem to be optimum for it. It made Savior glad, as he handed the mask back to Starfire.

"I brought these." Raven said, as she laid Savior's ice guns, Starfire's ice cannon, and Cyborg's severed arm down next to the Titans. "Just in case. Cyborg, I assume your arm has a separate power source so it can be used despite being severed from your larger body?"

"Good to know you were paying attention all those times we were fiddling with my baby and I started babbling about mechanics." Cyborg said.

"Do we need them? Is this not over?" Starfire thought: when Raven was close to the Titans, she could do a telepathic link that connected them all. It was handy when they needed to discuss a plan they didn't want anyone overhearing (so why didn't they do it earlier? Hey, they're human. They're not omniscient), or when one was in a situation that didn't allow talking.

"I think so." Cyborg said, as he checked the monitor on his arm. The Oxygen Destroyer was heating up, but Flammadea was already halfway into it. It should hold out long enough for the fiery ghost to be ripped apart into her component atoms and scattered to oblivion.

"I've heard that before." Raven said/thought.

"Don't jinx it." Savior replied, as Flammadea was drawn down to her chest. Her arms flailed like a drowning victim (which in a way she was, as people drowned because they had no air) and her face was a mask of utter horror. Savior couldn't muster any sympathy for her though. She'd chosen her path.

"Indeed, do not turn us into Jinx. As much as that may delight Cyborg." Starfire said.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Cyborg shot back.

"Oh don't…" Raven began…and then she saw it. "What the?"

Flammadea's head was the last thing remaining, being drawn into the Oxygen Destroyer…and then, suddenly, a hundred feet overhead, a new fire erupted, a small cloud of flame, so small it was barely noticeable. But Raven saw it.

"Huh? What Raven?" Savior said, not taking his eyes away from Flammadea's head as it finally vanished. "Ah, sweet victory…"

"GUYS!" Raven's voice thundered in their heads, making them all jump. "LOOK UP!"

"What? Look up at…" Cyborg said, as he saw the cloud. "What's that?"

"It appears to be being sucked into the Oxygen Destroyer." Starfire said. Indeed, the small flame cloud wasn't demonstrating a 20th of the resistance Flammadea had, as it was quickly drawn down to the Oxygen Destroyer.

"Oh no…please be wrong…" Raven said.

The flame disappeared into the machine…but half a second before it vanished completely, a new flame bloomed into existence above the machine, a new flame that immediately began to be sucked in.

"What the hell?" Savior said, finally noticing. "What the heck are those? Drawn gas pockets?"

"Oh no…" Raven said. "It's her."

"What?" Savior said, as everyone looked at Raven. "Her? Flammadea? But she was…"

"Sucked into the Oxygen Destroyer. Or rather, her fire was. But before she went…Flammadea apparently lit another fire in the distance…and I think she transferred her sentience to it."

"WHAT?" Went all the Titans.

"How is that possible?" Starfire said.

"Hey, she's the lord and master of the inferno. When it comes to fire…can there be anything she can't do? Especially with the energy of hundreds of thousands of women united with her?" Raven said. "She's escaping the Oxygen Destroyer by making a new body and then hopping to it before her old one is destroyed! She's warping away every time she's about to be totally consumed by it!"

"Damn it! I hate loopholes!" Savior cursed. "Cyborg, turn the power up higher!"

"It's at its maximum! It can't go higher!" Cyborg yelled, even though he was fiddling with his arm as if hoping it would offer him a chance to defy his just expressed irrevocability.

"Well, maybe we need not worry! Maybe it will keep sucking Flammadea up until she runs out of the power to do these checkerboard warps or whatever she is doing…" Starfire said. By now the "checkerboard warps" were becoming faster and faster: a new flame cloud appeared, and would disappear within a second or two as a new one bloomed.

"No!" Cyborg replied. "The Oxygen Destroyer is a prototype! Sucking up Flammadea would have damaged it, but not enough to keep it from working! But all her extra fire clouds…the machine's overloading! It can't take this much longer!"

"SHIT!" Savior yelled. His eyes darted down to the retrieved ice guns. "Shoot the cloud! Maybe she's weak enough that turning the fire cloud to ice will snuff her out!" Savior ordered, as he retrieved his ice guns and tossed Starfire her ice cannon via the Shimmer. Raven stood there, wondering if she could cast any more ice spells (she might be able to muster a few more), and then Cyborg leaned down, picked up his removed arm, and reached into the guts of it, pressing a few buttons. The outside and other parts fell away, revealing the ice cannon within (it looked like a larger version of Starfire's), one with a clear trigger. He tossed it to Raven, who caught it with her power, as Cyborg went back to looking at his arm readings, sweat running down his black skin.

The latest cloud appeared.

"Fire!" Savior ordered, and all three Titans did (though Raven missed completely as she had no idea what she was doing). But even the more competent (in gunplay anyway) Titans missed: the firecloud was sucked down too fast and the beams missed it completely, as the Oxygen Destroyer sucked it up.

"Levels hitting critical!" Cyborg yelled.

"Gee, no pressure." Savior growled, and as the second fire cloud appeared he fired again, trying to lead his shot. But Savior had only basic training with guns: he couldn't hit a moving target at several hundred yards, without any kind of scope on top of that. But he tried, as did the others…and failed again. The cloud was sucked up as a new one appeared. Cyborg was reduced to making wordless noises of worry.

The Titans fired again…and missed.

"It's gonna blow! If you miss this, you won't get another shot at it!"

The three shooters looked at each other…and then they nodded and aimed their guns.

The fire cloud appeared.

"On second thought, maybe Terra and her ten million hours on the Time Crisis games would have been helpful." Savior lamented, and the Titans fired.

The ice beams shot out, streaked towards their target…and missed.

The fire cloud began to be drawn into the Oxygen Destroyer.

And then the machine exploded, having taken in far too much heat, fragmenting apart into a thousand useless bits. The boom, after the time of utter silence due to the distorted atmosphere, rang in the Titans' ears, as they all lowered their guns, their arms heavy with failure.

Silence.

And then Savior saw it: the fire cloud was beginning to expand outward, reform itself. Flammadea was rising from the ashes.

The Titans looked at each other, not needing words to say what was their situation now: hopeless. The Oxygen Destroyer had failed. Without it, the Titans had no way of stopping Flammadea. All they could do…was hold her…distract her…annoy her…until J'onn fired the cannon and blew Amity Park off the map. And them with it.

And even then…

Cyborg suddenly reached out, slid a panel aside on his elbow, and tapped a button. A section of his chest opened and a small rectangular slab appeared. Savior knew what it was: the equivalent of Cyborg's black box, his recording of what had happened and his last will and testament. And much like a black box, it was immensely tough. Tough enough to survive an explosion of the magnitude the cannon would make.

He tossed it on the roof.

To Savior, what hurt the most, even as Raven drew up to his side and he put his arm around her, holding her as tight as he could, was Starfire's face. On the surface, there was nothing but determination…but under it was great sorrow. Not at her apparent fate, but at the fact it would occur without Robin, her love, by her side. Tamaranians were immensely emotional and loyal creatures, and to die like that, having never gotten a chance to say goodbye…it had to feel like her heart was being ripped out. But she weathered it, because she had to. That was the kind of being Koriand'r of Tamaran was.

Savior wasn't a religious man, but if there were a heaven, he'd gladly go to hell, or spend a million years in purgatory, if Starfire got in immediately. In a way, this was all his fault. He'd made the wrong decisions, tried to treat the situation like a gameboard instead of a battlefield, and in the end, this is what he had condemned his team to.

The fact that they now all looked to him anyway…

Savior's password to the Titans' security was from Tennyson's poem The Charge Of The Light Brigade, an actual historical incident that occurred in 1854, during the Russian/British Crimean War. An overzealous captain apparently misinterpreted his orders on purpose, and ordered the British Light Brigade, a mere 607 horsemen armed only with swords, to attack a superior Russian force made up of six divisions of cavalry, six battalions of infantry, and 30 cannon. The Light Brigade did so without hesitation, and stood against everything that was thrown at them, closing ranks where the cannon blasted them from 1200 yards and their comrades fell wounded or dead around them, reaching the artillery and hacking down the gunners, charging through a column of Russian infantry and scattering them, and then despite being attacked by Russian guns mounted on hills and Russian lancers from their flank, they pressed on, furiously cutting their way through the enemy forces. They might even have succeeded, had the Russians not grown desperate and began firing grapeshot and canisters into the melee, slaughtering their own men to get at the cavalry.

Of the 607 members who made the charge, only 198 made it back to their own lines. Their gallantry was later immortalized in the poem…a gallantry that only occurred because they bravely followed an arrogant captain's orders.

Noel could certainly see the parallels, as Raven handed Cyborg back his arm cannon, and chanted a few words to call freezing winds on her hands, as the three looked at him, their leader, a leader who had led them to this…and yet they still looked to him…

_Into the jaws of death…_

_Into the mouth of Hell…_

_Rode the Teen Titans…_

"Gentlemen, and ladies…" Savior said, as he raised one of his guns before him in a salute. "It has been an honor."

And the Titans broke and headed for Flammadea.

* * *

Flammadea was in pain, and she hated the fact. What the Titans had theorized was true: she had escaped by constantly igniting fires in the distance (while doing something like making an object explode took concentration, it did not take any from her to light a fire, any fire) and transferring her mind to them. But the process had been terrible, not to mention the sensation of being pulled into the Oxygen Destroyer: it was a human being pulled through a wood chipper. Now she laid on the ground, gathering herself, regaining her strength, her rage momentarily forgotten in her exhaustion. 

Until the beam of intense cold came streaking down from above.

It struck her, actually freezing her over for a bit before her fire flared and turned the ice into vapor within a second, and she was just beginning to stand up when two more beams, twins side by side, came from another angle on the ground, increasing the chill on her. A scream of frustration and anger tore from her throat, as she tried to fend off the ice beams and regain her power at the same time.

Starfire landed from her airborne shot, holding the cannon steady, even as Cyborg finally landed from Raven carrying him and fired off his own arm/ice cannon. Raven flew over so the Titans formed a rough diamond around Flammadea, and with one final chant she sent her own blast of immense cold out at Flammadea. She couldn't do this for long, and it hurt her: without her, the other three would be forced to keep Flammadea occupied for the more then twenty minutes remaining before the Watchtower fired. But maybe, just maybe, with Flammadea weakened and all of them firing their guns at maximum power, they could keep her here, in an ever-growing glacier, until the shot came…

Flammadea's scream of fury came from the icy mass that kept forming and disappearing around her, leaving mostly a pillar of steam from which blue and red energies flashed. Savior held his guns, not faltering despite the fact that at this level of chill the guns could give out any moment, but Victor Fries and Leonard Snart knew cold, he was certain they had safeguards…he hoped…but whatever happened, they had to hold Flammadea, they had to stop her, they were the only ones left…

The Titans stood their ground, pouring on the power.

And Flammadea, barraged by chill, held helpless within the ice's grip, experienced a flashback of being held down before…and what had been done to her…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A gigantic explosion exploded upward from around Flammadea, the blast blowing apart the buildings all around her. The entire world seemed to shake, as a mushroom cloud of fire and smoke and dust plumed high up into the air, as the boom echoed through the air and then was replaced by the sound of falling debris.

For the people who watched in the hospital, as they looked in utter horror at the aftermath of the blast, they couldn't help but wonder if a war had been declared on them.

And in a way, it had.

After all, war is hell.

* * *

And…several blocks away…something stirred. 

Savior's eyes fluttered open. For a moment, he wondered if he was alive. Then the pain told him that yes, he was alive, but maybe he shouldn't be. Savior blinked, finding his eyes strangely sticky, as he tried to collect his thoughts. Darkness swirled in on him, but he managed to chase it away.

Savior then, despite his agony, managed to roll over onto his stomach, and saw, with a numb horror, the devastation Flammadea had wrought. He'd been wrong, again. He thought she'd been weak enough, worn out enough, to keep imprisoned…all wrong. Nothing could imprison Flammadea. No willpower, no desire, no zealous entreaty could contain her. She'd defied death itself to vent her endless anger. And before it, even he was a gnat.

A tough gnat, he mused. The only reason he could fathom that he was still alive, minus the flame charm (which lay shattered beneath him, but he didn't notice that), was the fact that Flammadea had directed the explosion out from her body rather then from up under the ground. Outward, Savior had been more shoved backwards then ignited: if she'd blasted it from right underneath him he would have been incinerated. So…instead…he lay here, a broken ruin.

The darkness swirled in again…

And he fought it back. He didn't know if the darkness was unconsciousness or the reaper come to claim him (and if it was the latter he was going to give it a peace of his mind regarding Flammadea…and the Lord…and hell, he might as well toss in Slade), but before he did…he had to do something.

Where were his allies? Did they survive? He could see the possibility. Cyborg and Starfire were extremely tough, and Raven…she was tough too. But even if he was the worst…they were done. They'd thrown everything and the kitchen sink at Flammadea, and she'd shrugged it all off.

But…he could still…do one last thing…

Now, J'onn was tracking Flammadea by the Titan communicators, and he had orders to fire if all four of the blips went off, which most likely meant all the Titans were dead. But if at least one of them survived, if at least one of their signals remained…J'onn wouldn't fire. And if Flammadea decided she'd just leave the Titans to be claimed by the elements and flew off to find a new town to wreck, the blast would just destroy the city and not Flammadea herself.

So, as Savior clawed for his pants pocket, he needed to send a general emergency signal, and hope, just hope, that someone picked it up, someone who could get here in time, someone, anyone, who could stop Flammadea, keep her in place for the shot…

Savior pulled the communicator from his pocket, slowly bringing it to his face…

And found nothing but a shattered ruin. His communicator was totaled.

"……………………..Oh." He said weakly.

And then the darkness came again. This time, he could not fight it off.

* * *

As the smoke cleared from around her, and bits and pieces of wreckage fell to the ground, Flammadea blinked and looked around her. A massive crater was now in the middle of Amity Park, nothing but ruins around it. Had she killed the Titans? Maybe: she'd been more concerned with getting free and venting her rage then killing them. But even if they had somehow survived, she doubted they'd be back. They had nothing left. 

"…Come on. Was that it?" She asked the air, and though she had no bones, she cracked her neck anyway, back and forth, and then levitated up, heading over to the crater edge and setting herself down. She turned to look at her work, and found it gladdened her heart, or at least blunted her pain for a bit.

Could there have been any other result? No. The Titans were nothing. No man was, or any woman under their sway. She was invincible. She was a god. She was beyond any man's willpower or desire, or any kind, forever. She would scour the planet of the male sex and no one would be able…to…stop…

She felt the presence. For a moment she wondered if one of the Titans still had enough in them to stand…and then she realized it…

She blinked.

And then she turned.

Daniel Fenton stood there, in the street before her.

She blinked again.

He just held her gaze.

Flammadea opened her mouth…and then closed it. Strangely, her anger at the fact that the boy had escaped his destined and deserved death AGAIN did not re-ignite her anger. She was mostly just shocked and surprised.

"Why…" She said. "Why…can't I KILL YOU?"

"Perhaps that's a question best not answered, Sizzle." Danny replied.

"Flammadea." She corrected, raising a hand. "Well, well. Are you sure that as well as being a Halfa, you aren't the reincarnation of Houdini? Wait wait, don't explain. Let me guess…" Flammadea said, as she waved her hand in a circle at the wrist, in the way people who are conjecturing sometimes do. "You saw my blast coming, and despite being human you somehow grabbed your lady friend and went intangible. You then phased through the ground to avoid my blast, but it got you turned around, especially considering you were used to doing that in your ghost form, and you didn't want to risk turning back because you would most likely kill yourself and your TUW WUV…" Flammadea said, the two words suddenly filled with her usual fiery venom. "And you wandered around underground until you finally found a way out, and then you had to get little miss Goth to safety, and of course you somehow do all this without getting smashed or crushed or blown up or cremated in the collateral damage of this fight, and now that I FINALLY think I've won here you are, ready to spoil my victory again by YOUR GODDAMN FUCKING IMMORTALITY!" Flammadea screamed.

"I never wanted this. I still don't." Danny replied.

"That's life kid. It takes what you don't want and crams it down your throat until you choke on it." Flammadea said. "And it's doing it to me again. I tried to burn you, you would not die. I tried to melt you, you would not die. I tried to seal you in glass, you would not die. I tried to blow you into little bits, you would not die. I tried to push you off a building, you would not die. I tried to drag you down via a machine, you would not die. I even broke all your bones and spilled your blood, and then roasted you from within with my divine fire, and YET YOU WOULD NOT DIE!" Flammadea shrieked. "It has become very apparent that the only way I will know for sure that you are dead is to rip your heart from your chest and eat it. And then, only then, when your life's blood is sizzling off my hands and your accused sack of unrelenting beating tissue is being ground between my teeth, YOU WILL FINALLY BE DEAD!"

"I won't die." Danny said. "Not by you. I refuse to be killed by you."

"Oh, how amusing. You think YOU HAVE A CHOICE!" Flammadea roared, as searing fire whipped up around her, buffering Danny with intense heat. He didn't blink, and that just enraged her further.

"I suppose you want to make your last stand. That's what you so called heroes do, isn't it?" Flammadea said. "Well Danny, look at your peers. Look where it got them. And I assure you their fate is nothing compared to what I will do to you."

"You've said this before." Danny replied. "Get a new rap Flammadea. That one's so third rate comic villain."

Flammadea gritted her teeth, as her fire sprang higher and fiercer around her.

"You've done a lot of bad things." Danny said. "And it's time for it to end."

And then power began swirling around Danny as well, but not the usual circles. No, this was a new kind of transformation, as white and green power streamed off him and sparkled away from his body, as his shredded clothes slowly transformed into his black and white costume, his hair going the perfect white of snow, his eyes the green of emeralds.

"And it is going to end FLAMMDEA!" Danny Phantom roared. "IF I DO ONE THING, IT WILL BE THAT!"

"The only end here is yours boy!" Flammadea roared back. "YOU CHALLENGE MY DIVINITY? THEN LET THE EARTH QUAKE AND THE HEAVENS TREMBLE!"

And Flammadea launched herself at Danny.

Who flew off the ground at her as well, the two pistoning their fists out.

And they collided, in a massive and powerful luminance of green and crimson light.

* * *

And far far away, up in the cold dead darkness of space, encased within a cold metal structure, a pair of red pupil-less eyes looked in cold worry at a monitor, one that would normally show what an extremely powerful satellite camera would show of the section of Earth it was zoomed in on, if it was not blocked by thick masses of ugly black clouds, clouds not of this world. On these clouds rested three T's, imposed in various places, the forth having vanished, though J'onn does not know if it means the communicator is gone or the owner is dead. He cannot worry about that. He knows these children, his ilk, and he knows they know the possible consequences of their choices. 

What troubles him are the consequences that he will be forced to face, if the cloud does not disappear. If it does not…

"22 minutes remaining…" The computer informed him. He wished he could turn it off, but he cannot. Not if he wants to stay this course…this terrible course…

He does not want to think of it, what he will have to do, even if it is for the greater good.

But as he watches the only other window open on the computer screen besides the one showing the picture of the satellite looking down on the clouds, he cannot help but think of it, as the timer to the point of no return slowly ticks down.

If it hit 0…he would rage against it, loathe that it came to that, and that he could do nothing.

But if it hit zero, J'onn J'ozz, the Martian Manhunter, would not hesitate to fire the Watchtower satellite and destroy Amity Park. And everyone and anyone who might be in it.

"21 minutes remaining…"


	18. Ignipotens: Symphony For The Devil

Chapter 18: Symphony For The Devil

"We, the unwilling, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing."

Mother Teresa

Evil never dies.

The flesh that holds it may cease to function, the heart may no longer beat, the brain may no longer be active, the body no longer alive…but the darkness within these forms does not fade with the biological aspects that defined life.

It lives on. Sometimes in others, people and beings scarred by the actions that the evils have perpetuated against them, and sometimes in minions, subordinates, admirers, worshippers, those for whom evil has struck a chord in and whose eyes have become taken with a particular vision of a madman or monster, and sometimes just because the evil has existed, unrecognized and cloaked in a façade, for so long that many simply cannot accept it for what it really is.

Genghis Khan slaughtered hundreds of thousands in his quest to rule all of Asia, but in the process he slept with and raped so many women that today nearly sixteen million people are his direct and indirect descendants. Perhaps his genetic code carries no curse of savagery and megalomania…but the DNA that formed the terrible Mongol conqueror lives on centuries after the Khans' empires crumbled to dust alongside the Roman and Ottoman ones…

Hitler may have been dead for decades, but Nazism and his creed live on in others, people who truly believe that the source of all evil comes from religious creeds and skin color, claiming genetic superiority over nearly all, despite the fact that modern science has proven that at the base level there is no genetic difference between any part of the human race. They will not, cannot listen to these hard facts: their prejudice and hatred is far sweeter to them. And hence does the greatest evil of the twentieth century lives on beyond the grave…

And while civic rights and social equality may seemingly have been established in the Western world, the prejudice that reigned for centuries beforehand lives on, in the hearts of many. The truth does not matter: the lies have been told too often, for too long, by too many. The lie has become the truth, the truth the lie, the fear and hatred so deep and ingrained that in some places it seems to be in the soil, the water, the very air itself. Perhaps it will take centuries of reverse thinking to finally change this…or maybe the sense of superiority and abhorrence will live forever, too intertwined with the normal thinking process to ever be cut out, to ever be fully exterminated…

Evil never dies.

And in this world…that can be quite literal…

_Robin screamed in utter agony as the Lord, utilizing a cruel mechanical tool, ripped into his leg. The Lord had finally begun the final stage of his plan, and to do so he needed something from every Titan, the teen superheroes whom he had just defeated with the aid of his allies. With Robin, he needed some of the Teen Wonder's highly developed muscle tissue, and he didn't really care what he did or damaged in the boy to get it. Robin, trained by Batman, had been taught a few base techniques for resisting torture, but the Lord didn't want any information. He just wanted spare parts._

_And something else. Something no one ever knew._

_Robin was too swept up in his agonizing to even notice the Lord glancing back over his shoulder, looking at his teammates. Checking something he is sure is right, but better safe then sorry._

_He was right in what he supposed: none of his teammates were paying attention, or at least in a way that would have caused him trouble. Murdercrow is blind, but she has turned away from the torture, as has Shadowmaster. The two may have been cold-blooded killers, but they were also neat, efficient killers, preferring to strike precise, bloodless lethal blows to kill their opponents, breaking necks and sending fatal electing shocks into brainstems, throwing knives at a distance and shattering spines in precise spots. They were killers, but they were not sadists, and this tableau held no interest to them…_

_And Sizzle…Sizzle is the exact opposite, as could be expected. But it will not save her, for she is TOO far to the other end. While Murdercrow and Shadowmaster have turned away, Sizzle stood there, her eyes closed, drinking in Robin's suffering. She looked almost to be on the verge of orgasm as she silently but greatly reveled in the male teenager's torture. She did not pay attention to the actual scene: she was too busy enjoying it. _

_None of his allies were watching. Neither was Robin: incredible pain tends to be rather off-putting for acute analysis, and the rest of the Titans, restrained as well, were not in a position to see clearly._

_So no one saw it when the Lord reached a hand up and made a slight, ever so slight, adjustment to Robin's restraints. Indeed, even if the rest of Genocide HAD been paying attention, they might have thought the Lord was just making sure Robin's restraints were holding up under his thrashing._

_But that was not what the Lord had done. Oh no._

Sometimes, it is the smallest acts that will bring about the final metamorphosis of the greatest evils. Events no one could have ever conceived of playing a role in the future. But as a famous movie said, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. Perhaps the second greatest trick is to hide the events of the most important meaning in the tiniest machinations…

_For you see…as mentioned, the Lord had lied to Sizzle, lied to all his allies on the nature of the ritual. They believed they would all acquire great power, when the truth was only the Lord would achieve the godhood he had promised them all. And to ensure that none of them were the wiser…the Lord had very, very carefully planned these final moments._

_Murdercrow was in love with him, this he knew. And she would be needed for his ritual. And Shadowmaster, the fool, was in love with Murdercrow: what The Lord planned to do would throw him and prevent him from making any kind of effective maneuver before the Lord neutralized him. But Sizzle…Sizzle was too wary, too paranoid, too eager to find the opening she had been craving for months. There were too many variables for the psychotic pyrokinetic: she could mess everything up and destroy everything the Lord had worked so hard for if he attempted to take her out himself._

_So he subcontracted that task to the Titans._

_He knew Robin, knew the obsessions that drove him. He knew that Robin, if given a heads up on a deadly danger, would do everything to stop it. Anything._

_Including dislocate his own shoulder to get free. And most likely some use of the Birdarang hidden in his boot, the Birdarang Robin probably hoped the Lord had missed in the search. Silly boy. Missing things was a human failing._

_But if the Lord had never adjusted the restraints…even Robin would have been unable to get free. His slight tweaking of the bonds opened that door for Robin._

_A door the Lord knew Robin would take. And once he was free, he was sure he'd get his allies free somehow. They would take care of Sizzle. Especially if the Lord gave them a period of grace by offering the Titans for Sizzle to torture for her own amusement. She needed to do that: if she went too long without inflicting pain on men Sizzle's psychosis started to gnaw away at her. He'd purposely denied her any relief for a bit so she would jump at the chance, and try and do something big to make up for lost time, something big that would most likely take her out of the room to find the necessary instruments to pull it off._

_Which is just what he did. And which is just what she did._

_With her occupied, the Lord could complete his ritual and deal with Murdercrow and Shadowmaster in the process. Once the Titans dealt with Sizzle, they'd come after him…except by then it'd be too late. Then he'd deal with the Titans, and then pop down and deal with Sizzle to tie off any loose ends. And then he'd purge of the world of human waste._

_In the end though, the Lord never had to deal with Sizzle. The Titans did that. It was an accident, but it did not change the fact that in the end the terribly abused girl was lying dead at their feet. A death that almost seemed happy: a final escape from a pain none of the Titans could ever comprehend._

Except…there was no escape.

Sometimes evil is too vague and ill defined to die. Sometimes it is too far spread. Sometimes it is just too persuasive…

And sometimes…it is carried by a force so great and insidious that none of the natural laws of life can stand before it…not even death…

_The peace was short lived._

_Awareness soon returned, followed by great confusion. Followed by adaptation…and a realization that the more things changed, the more they stayed the same._

_As Sizzle re-awoke to a sense of existing, slowly began to reorient herself, she slowly realized she was dead…and yet she still suffered. She no longer had a body, no bones, no muscles, no organs…and no nerves…but pain like hers was more then a series of signals in a biological construct._

_She may have died, but her agony lived, clawing within her. And as she realized it, that it had followed her all the way…and that even dead, it had no longer failed to leave her but still exerted it's greatest cruel trick on her…she went mad all over again. _

_She tried to escape it, even as she tried to adjust to this new state of being, her human perceptions trying to adapt to this otherworldly realm she had found herself in. She never really understood where she was…_

_Was she in Hell? It did not seem like hell, at least not in the traditional sense…but then again, hellfire and brimstone would have been delightful to her, as she discovered her fire powers still worked, though nothing could really burn on this strange plane of existence…but perhaps that showed it WAS Hell, tailor fit for her…except she did not seemed confined, hemmed in. She did not seemed trapped in one place, and hence she went many places. And everywhere she went, new strangeness…and new dangers. But she had learned too much in life to be threatened in death…learned everything except how to escape her pain._

_How to escape what it did to her, no matter how much she loathed it._

_Nothing brought relief to it. No matter where she went, what she did, what she learned…it never left. It was a fire she couldn't enjoy, burning within her…and yet…_

_It was something she could not extinguish or smother...and yet…_

_It was who she was…and who she would always be, for eternity…for if she was already dead, what else could she do to escape it?_

_And yet…_

_Madness piled on madness…anger fed on anger…as mere emotions grew, changed, mutated, turned into a force that was as powerful as nature and yet defied it…as Sizzle grew to crave one thing. Escape. She had to find a way back to the realm of the living. And once she was back…if she was doomed to suffer, then everyone was going to suffer with her. She'd find a way to ensure they all felt the pain alongside her. If she would never be at peace, then NO ONE WOULD!_

_And one day, she found her way out._

_And she had learned much in her wanderings. Including of spirits who had crossed over, what they could do, what they should do. And as if blessed by a dark god, Sizzle did not need to look for any of it when she escaped. It was right there, waiting for her: a female, her new body, her instrument of revenge upon the world and the male species that ran it, the male species that had condemned her to this hellish existence._

_And a boy…a living boy…the first member of the male species, something that she could finally begin to take her wrath and torment out on…_

_The rest has been told._

Evil has almost completed its journey. It has become everything it ever could be. It commands the power to do as it wills and the will to do some very bad things indeed. And it will…for it always does…always…

Evil, once again, threatens the world.

And now, in its latest form, evil prepares to take the final step that all great powers aspire to: the subjugation and destruction of any and all who oppose them…

* * *

But…in all of history, whenever evil has attempted its final stepping stone…there has always been something, ready and waiting, to make them stumble. 

Though, as the crimson and green light engulfed the street of Amity Park where Flammadea and Danny had clashed, you could hardly call what Flammadea was doing stumbling. Indeed, she was completely in control of herself as she flew back out and back from the light, doing a slow flip and then floating as she raised a hand, a finger pointing skyward, as a ball of flame began to appear above her. That previous blow had been a test of power, and while she'd been blown back she was certain Danny had been blown back more: this flame blast she was charging would change him from blown back to blown up…

Danny shot out from the light like a bullet, his legs having disappeared into a misty trail as he lanced at Flammadea. Her eyes widened.

His blow struck her across the face and sent her crashing down into the crater she had made when she had blown away the Titans. Dust and smoke plumed up, briefly, from her impact, as Danny's trail reformed back into his legs, as he swooped down to where Flammadea was.

Flammadea had gotten up, at least in a technical sense: she'd actually reformed her fire body into a standing position. But her expression hadn't changed: she was shocked. Danny had hit her.

And Danny knew it, and he couldn't help grinning at the why. He'd caught a few brief glimpses of the battle as he tried to find a safe place for Sam, and he'd seen the Titans' blows proving utterly ineffective against Flammadea's fire spirit form. After all, you couldn't punch, kick, or shoot fire, so how could you fight it?

But Danny Phantom wasn't the Titans. His Halfa powers granted him an ability even Raven did not possess: Flammadea's fire, by the nature of her current existence, was supernatural, imbued with the essence of the spirit world. The same essence that had been fused into Danny's DNA. An invented on the spot variant of this power had allowed Danny to strike Sizzle while she was in Sam's body, his ghost self and him working side by side but not fused. Now they were fused again, and Danny could feel the power that it brought him. The power that, among other things, allowed him to strike Flammadea if she was an actual physical being.

Apparently, Flammadea had forgotten this fact, as she stared at Danny in shock, and just a tiny bit of horror. Absolute power and supposed invulnerability can go to one's head quite swiftly, to the point where the past, even the most recent of it, is forgotten. To Flammadea, the fact that she had not recently been touched meant she could not be touched. Now that she had…

"What's wrong Flammadea?" Danny flippantly asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

The shock was gone: the rage was exploding back full bore, as Flammadea screamed and leapt at Danny, fire trailing behind her body as she zapped at him, a horizontal meteor, a being so dangerous and violent that seemingly the gates of Tarturus itself did not want to admit her.

Flammadea slashed out a hand at Danny: he dodged away from it, zapping to the side. With a shriek, Flammadea instantly changed directions to go after him, a blade of flame appearing on her other arm as she closed the gap and slashed at the ghost teen. Danny turned intangible and the flaming sword went through him. As Flammadea's eyes widened, Danny returned to normal, his eyes flashing with his own fire as he punched Flammadea in the gut, then slammed his elbow down onto the reared over Flammadea's back, then slashed up his leg in a leaping axe kick, smashing Flammadea into the air.

Flammadea recovered in mid-air and screamed again as she reared back and thrust out her hands, firing a burning stream of fire at Danny. It struck the ground where he was and exploded.

As Danny reappeared, above and behind Flammadea. She barely caught the movement, as she turned her head, astonished.

Danny slammed his laced together hands down on Flammadea, sending her crashing down into the ground like a comet, and then flew down into the dust and smoke, pistoning out his fist towards the thrashing flame goddess…

Whose body swhirled away from the blow and reformed as Flammadea, with another savage cry, delivered a cracking kick to Danny's chest, sending him tumbling across the crater. Flammadea flew after Danny, as she began throwing fireball after fireball from her hands. As Danny flipped over, the balls began exploding around him. Danny leapt up through the explosions, as green energy blazed into being on his hand. He fired a powerful ectoblast at Flammadea…whose body swirled into a spiraling line of fire, avoiding the blast as she corkscrewed through the air and reformed a dozen feet away, her face materializing...as Danny appeared in front of her, charging another ectoblast. Flammadea's eyes widened again.

The point blank attack blasted Flammadea back into the crater, rock and smoke exploding up from where she impacted.

Danny floated down to the ground, as with a blast of fire and heat Flammadea exploded up from where she had been thrown. He watched, calmly, as Flammadea glared murder at him, even as more fire ignited on her hands and then went from red to a brilliant white. She then slashed out her hand, and giant crescents of white fire, deadly daggers of flame, flew out from her fingers, slicing towards Danny, their edges carving into the ground as they flew towards their target, eager to slice him into cooked meat sections.

Danny leapt into the air and began to spin, as his body twisted and distorted itself around the slashing blades, his limbs making impossible contortions as parts of his body went from solid matter to wispy nothingness, just for a second…as he dodged all the white fire blades…And flew right into the fire whip, the white line of flame wrapping around him as he twirled out from his last dodge. Danny yelled in surprise, andFlammadea grinned as she prepared to contract the whip and both crush and burn Danny…

And then he started spinning, and Flammadea shrieked as she was yanked upward, as Danny did his impression of a yo-yo and wound the fiery 'string' around him, pulling Flammadea to him…and then, as she drew close, still unsure what to do, he let out a bellow and green energy exploded from around him, dissipating the flame encircling him even as he completed his final twirl and slammed his fist across Flammadea's face, sending her shooting across the sky.

Danny blasted after Flammadea, as she recovered from her trip and looked at Danny with blazing eyes as he flew at her…and then suddenly, as he was getting close, he interrupted his straight line path, stopping for a length of time too brief to measure and then altering his path about thirty degrees, flying around Flammadea in a tight arc, and before Flammadea knew it Danny had done a circle around her and was now above her. Flammadea whirled around, trying to catch Danny as she hurled an arcing flame blast at him, but by then Danny was long gone from his previous position, the flame blast missing him as he shot down at a severe angle and slammed his foot into Flammadea's face. She flew across the crater and crashed into the edge of it, and a section of street and shattered building broke off from the lip and crumbled down on her.

Danny flew down before the pile of wreckage as Flammadea blasted it off her with an enraged bellow, and no sooner was she free then she was lancing at Danny, slashing and clawing at his face, but every time she threw a blow Danny was somewhere else, as he flew backwards, rapidly dodging her clawing arms...

And then flaming tendrils erupted from Flammadea's back, arcing up and down at insane speed as deadly blades appeared on the ends of them, as Flammadea tried to scorpion-impale Danny to the ground… The points slammed into the ground as Danny leapt up to avoid them, the twin appendages forming a V shape to stab him as Danny had dodged into the open space of the V, which put him parallel with Flammadea's again shocked face...and then Danny flipped backwards, slamming his legs up and smashing them across Flammadea's face. She flew up into the sky like a bullet.

Danny completed his flip and blasted up after Flammadea, who as usual recovered fast and faced herself towards Danny. Her eyes still blazing rage (hell they hadn't STOPPED blazing rage), Flammadea snapped out her arms and they extended like Mr. Fantastic, her fiery hands lancing down towards the ghost teen as he flew up towards her. With a last second spiral dodge, Danny zipped around the extending arms and flew true, as he rammed both his fists into Flammadea's torso.

As mentioned, Flammadea no longer breathed like a human and hence didn't have wind to be knocked out of her, but Danny's blow had a similar effect on her body, as she was doubled over by the blow. Her mouth opened, and if she had been organic, perhaps blood would have come out: instead all that came out was a surprised gasp, even as she continued to fly up a bit, Danny still pressing up against her, his fists grinding into her body.

Snarling, Flammadea's long extended flame arms wisped into nothing as Flammadea got rid of the excess length and grabbed at Danny with her hands…

And then Danny turned intangible, flying up through Flammadea, his continued pressure now making sense as he went right through the fire deity, her grabbing hands missing him as he reappeared above her, his fist clenching…

Flammadea turned around.

Danny's downward punch rang through the air and sent Flammadea back into the ground again. Dust exploded more then a hundred feet into the air from the impact, and then began to settle down, as Danny flew back down to where the impact had been. He said nothing, and his face betrayed nothing.

Fire blew away the last of the dust as Flammadea reappeared once more. Her anger remained, but now it was marred by something.

Disbelief.

Danny cocked his head, looking at the spirit.

"That the best you got?"

Flammadea goggled at Danny.

And then she answered, with another shriek, as she flew up and at him, going towards him at an upward arc, as if she planned to stop and fire down upon him…except Danny took off at the same arc, putting the two on a collision course. The two slammed together, furiously exchanging punches, kicks, slashes, and anything they could think of, as each side fired off and dodged blows, the irresistible force once again meeting the unmovable object.

Flammadea finally landed an upward roundhouse kick, and as Danny was thrown back she snapped out an arm and fired three quick fireballs at him. Danny recovered, and as the flame blasts closed in he slashed out his left arm, knocking one away, then his right arm, knocking away the second, and then he flipped backwards and kicked the third blast back at Flammadea. The fireball flew back into the flame queen, its essence being reabsorbed into her…but she was still surprised by Danny's ultra-quick counter…which allowed him to complete his flip, his hands now charged with green energy, and fire off a twin handed ectoblast at Flammadea. It struck her and exploded.

Tendrils of flame lanced out from the explosion, stabbing at Danny: he whirled and dodged to avoid them…and realized too late they weren't an attack, they were a feint, as the fire appendages combined behind Danny and reformed into Flammadea, as she did another "checkerboard warp". Now it was Danny's turn to turn around…

Flammadea slammed into Danny, her hand grabbing his throat, intense heat scorching the delicate skin, as the two barreled down into the crater again. They struck the dirt and rock with another powerful impact, throwing up another cloud of dust…

Flammadea and Danny flew from the cloud, once again furiously exchanging blows, as Danny ducked, dodged, and flew away from multiple appendages of flame, as Flammadea's right hand again exploded with white fire and she punched at him. Danny leapt to the side as the punch struck the ground and exploded. Flammadea was already on her next move, as she too darted to the side and slashed out her leg at Danny's lower body, but Danny was still a step ahead of her, as he leapt forward and up, over her kick and her form, spinning in mid air to face her as one of his hands ignited green…

The blast blew Flammadea across the crater, though this time she kept her standing position, as she slid back along the rocky ground like she was skating on an ice rink. After several dozen feet she stopped, strands of green power wisping off her, as her expression alternated between insane rage and utter disbelief.

Danny flew at her, and as her eyes flashed in fury Flammadea thrust out a hand and fired off another gigantic blast of white flame, the fire enveloping Danny and flying on to blast another chunk of Amity Park into the side of the crater…

And then Danny's ethereal form emerged from the end of the blast, his body regaining its tangibility as he lashed out and slammed his fist into Flammadea's gut, and then stopped, spun down, and slashed out his leg, knocking Flammadea off her feet and onto the ground before she knew what was happening, and then Danny leapt up and spun twice in the air before he slammed down, knee first, crushing Flammadea's chest under his bludgeoning blow. Flammadea's fire form, lacking bones to break or muscles to bruise, actually acted more like Jell-O, a very firm Jell-O that flattened out from Danny's blow, a blow that rang through Flammadea's whole body as she gasped…and then vanished into flame, fire that instantly flowed up and reformed into Flammadea's shape, her body once again ten feet tall like she had been when she had first obtained her power, her right arm a gigantic fire sword, as she reared back with a scream and stabbed it out at Danny…

Danny leapt up to avoid the sword, and as he did he slashed out his left leg, the limb slamming into the side of Flammadea's head, and even as she began to react to the blow Danny, his left leg still against Flammadea's head, snaked his right leg over her hair and slammed it against the other side of her skull, and as Danny's ankles clamped onto her head Flammadea's eyes widened and her mouth opened as she started to scream…as Danny yanked as hard as he could, pulling her off her feet as he fell down, pulling Flammadea with him…

And slamming her against the ground with his legs, headfirst, and a gigantic explosion of power erupted up from the impact blow, consuming both of them in brilliant energy.

Danny flew out of the explosion of light, doing a tightly coiled backwards somersault as he flew up and back, landing about thirty feet away. He set himself down, his face hard, and waited.

You would think he would be pleased on how things were going, but the truth was, Danny wasn't. Sure, he appeared to be winning…but that didn't change the fact that there was still a rain of fire pouring down on his city (though none had come close to Danny yet, but still, he didn't want to be fighting and then get blown out of the sky due to a wayward missile), or…what Flammadea was. He may have been winning, but there was a difference between battles and wars.

But Danny knew how to end this war. In the end he couldn't think of any other way. There was no Thermos, no way to keep Flammadea confined, especially after her Sumerian charge up. And there was no way to reason with her, no way to find a halfway point or a truce.

Yet…Danny would not yet…

The smoke cleared, as Flammadea slowly floated up from her latest small crater. Danny arched an eyebrow. For one thing, she was back to 'normal' size, and another, the intense fury that had covered her face for their entire up until then fight was gone. It was almost like she had made peace with the fact that Danny could actually battle her…and he knew she wouldn't be doing that. That sharpened his senses, and put his body in a combat pose, as he waited.

"Well." Flammadea said. "Learned a few new tricks have we? Did you go to some weird realm of the dead where time flows differently and train under some mystical being for years and then come back at almost the exact instant you left? No, of course not. Who could believe that kind of nonsense?" Flammadea said, and rolled her neck. Cracking noises sounded from it, and since Flammadea had no bones, Danny had to wonder what was making them.

"Well, don't you look all determined and proud." Flammadea continued, as she rolled her fingers. "I guess I'll have to take you seriously."

Danny's eyes widened.

And then Flammadea was right in his face.

"Boo."

The uppercut sounded like a thunder crack, as Flammadea slashed her arm up so fast Danny never saw what hit him: one moment he was on the ground and the next he was flying up and back like a rock thrown from a volcano. He flew out of the crater and crashed through the upper floors of a building before he flew out the other end and fell to the concrete in a storm of broken glass. He landed on a car, crushing it, as a wheezing scream came from his mouth. Barely, he had enough sense to form a brief shield to keep any falling glass from slicing him, and then his arms fell as his whole body went limp for a second, as Danny struggled to breath. A terrible pain burned in his chest where she had struck him.

He'd been a fool. He should have known the battle was going too well. If Flammadea had taken down the Titans, a group that had defeated at least four messianic-esque beings, what chance did he have alone…

No. He had as much of a chance as he made for himself. He couldn't whine or curl up in a ball and hope the bad thing went away. He had to stand, and he had to fight, no matter what people thought the odds might be. He had to do it, for his family and Tucker and Sam.

Danny rolled off the car, fighting to get strength back in his body, fighting against the pain in his chest. He coughed and then cracked his neck again, looking up.

And then Flammadea floated down at the end of the street, her fiery dress, hair, and tendrils wisping around her, her face looking pleased.

That expression was all it took for Danny to regain his righteous rage, as he yelled and green power erupted on his hands. He slammed his wrists together and fired a powerful ectoblast down the long street at Flammadea.

She didn't move an inch, as the ectoplasmic energy shot at her. Instead, she reared back an arm…and whacked the blast aside, like she was swatting a fly. The power shot flew to the side and blew up another convenience store, but Danny had already forgotten it, as his feet left the ground and he flew at Flammadea, his fist cocking back as he screamed again.

"Such heroic nonsense." Flammadea said, and raised her hands. A ball of fire appeared between them, flashing white and growing to the size of a pumpkin, and then Flammadea fired off the blast at Danny, far faster then he had anticipated: he could not dodge. Instead, he stopped his charge and thrust out his hands, trying to do what he had done previously and force the fireball away from him. But this blast of flame was far more powerful then the ones he had smacked away before, and instead of deflecting it Danny felt himself being pushed back by it, as powerful force-waves erupted from the ball and shattered the concrete and building windows around him, pounding the stone under his feet to powder and sending it pluming up along the street, a giant wave of dust erupting higher then the buildings, and then Danny had reached the end of the T-Shaped junction and he knew he had nowhere left to go so he gathered his power and commanded it to stop…

The ball exploded, the blast sending walls of flame shooting down the three junctions of the road, smashing against the buildings that lurked around the crux of the and knocking them askew. Danny's form was consumed by the blast and by falling wreckage, as a large plume of smoke bloomed up from the detonation.

Had anyone been watching from above the city, and been an avid video fanatic, the blast might have reminded them of a game of _Bomberman._

This certainly wasn't a game though…at least, not to Danny. Hell, this wasn't a game to anyone except the initiator, Flammadea, as she floated towards the shattered street corner where Danny had stopped, stopping herself about twenty or so feet away from the fading smoke.

Danny was revealed, his arms crossed before him, his outfit shredded at the forearms and an angry red underneath. Danny lowered his limbs, wincing in pain. His ghost ability, the same one that let him actually hit Flammadea, also seemed to afford him protection from Flammadea's supernatural fire. A human would have been vaporized to nothing from the explosion: instead Danny just had some badly burned forearms and a slightly singed outfit. He certainly wasn't jumping for joy though, as he looked at Flammadea. His intense look was now marred by a slight bleary expression, the gaze of someone trying to put a brave face on pain and fear.

Flammadea smirked at him.

"…What the hell are you?" Danny said. It was all he could think of in regards to this situation, him standing here on the street, surrounded by battered buildings and swirling smoke, looking at the lunatic spirit who had turned his whole life upside down the past few days.

Flammadea just smirked again.

And then suddenly she was right in front of him, again. Danny's eyes widened as she once again zipped right up against him without him detecting the slightest movement.

"Allow me to introduce myself." Flammadea said, as she bowed slightly. "I'm a girl of wealth and taste."

And then she slashed out her left arm, her slicing fist striking Danny in the side of the head before he knew what was happening, as he started to stumble to the side, and even as he did Flammadea thrust out her left foot and slammed it into Danny's ankles, and Danny found himself with his feet off the ground and his body doing a mid-air cartwheel from the impact…

And then Flammadea began firing off rapid punches, dozens of blows that immobilized Danny in his upside down position, Danny being blitzkrieged under the impacts before Flammadea slashed her foot up and kicked Danny high into the sky, Danny shot up into the air above Amity Park like a rocket. Fighting through the pain, Danny tried to recover, trying to remember which way was up, as he spun around and tried to get his bearings…

And then a fireball came down on him from the cloud. Danny's scream was swallowed by the explosion.

Flammadea floated up, her arms crossed, looking satisfied at this happy accident…if it was an accident. The smoke quickly blew away to reveal a battered Danny. But his eyes were once again clear, and with a growl he blasted at Flammadea.

He slashed out his foot at her head and hit nothing: Flammadea had dodged back. Danny spun and lashed out with a karate chop at her neck: Flammadea's body flowed down and away from the impact and reformed a few feet from Danny. Danny lanced forward, striking out with a great punch: his fist went through the last fading remnants of Flammadea's smiling features as she spiraled her flame away from the blow and reformed several feet distant. Danny growled and fired off an ectoshot: Flammadea's body spiraled away from that as well, the dissipating flame making sure Danny saw the mocking look on her face until the last moment where the blast went through where she was. Danny followed the amazingly fast line of fire with his eyes as it spiraled away another few dozen feet and reformed into Flammadea. Ectoplasmic energy re-ignited on Danny's hand, but Flammadea immediately began shifting away, her features already starting to be stretched out as her form was drawn off to somewhere else…

And a strange idea struck Danny.

"Find her!" He yelled, and then he fired the ectoblast, even as Flammadea began finishing up her fire trail warp, as the ectoblast flew forward…and then arced off at a ninety degree angle to the left, flew for a bit, then arced another ninety degrees and flew straight up, and another ninety as it flew on…

Flammadea began reforming in the distance, as the beam continued to arc and arc…and as Flammadea finished ameliorating herself, the blast made one last sharp turn and flew true. Flammadea's eyes widened in surprise that an ectoblast was still chasing after her, and this time she had no time to get away, as it struck her and exploded.

Danny lowered his arm, panting, though he didn't know why. Did such a tactic drain more power then usual? If it did, it wasn't worth it, as the energy was fading away, revealing Flammadea nothing the worse for wear unless you count her expression showing more irritation then before.

"Nice trick." Flammadea said. "Now let me show the power of REAL magic!"

And Flammadea reared back and thrust out her hand.

A gigantic blast of white fire flew from her hand, the same kind that had seemingly vaporized Danny and Sam earlier. The last time though, Danny had gotten away from it by phasing through the ground. This time, all he could do was phase out as the blast flew through him. Even intangible, he could feel its power rip through his body, and as the blast flew on and blasted a giant crater in the side of the mountain outside Amity Park he once again returned to the realm of flesh and blood, trying to recover from the sense of violation…

And then Flammadea was attacking, smashing her fist across Danny's face. Stars exploded in his vision, but Flammadea wasn't done yet, as she smashed another blow across his face, and then flipped forward and smashed her heels across his back and shoulder, sending Danny flying down to the roads of Amity Park again, smashing yet another hole in the besieged city's streets. He coughed again, pain wracking his form, and then he tried to force it back down, get back up and fight.

Blood flowed in a cut from his forehead, running down into his eyes and stinging them. He tried to blink it away, even as more blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, the salt working its way onto his tongue…

Forget the pain. Stand. Fight. Don't let her win…

Danny pushed himself up, wiping the blood from his forehead, and then Flammadea was back, floating in front of him, off in the distance. She had her arms crossed again, but in a slightly different position: her left hand was tucked under her right arm while her right arm was raised above her left elbow, fire glowing in her palm, the flames licking between her fingers.

"Dance." Flammadea said.

And she reared her right hand back and threw it forward, sending a spiraling oval of flame at Danny, the blast flying at him erratically and a high speed…but Danny had enough warning to move this time, as he leapt backwards away from it. The blast hit where he had been and exploded, blasting an explosion that extended twenty feet in radius as Danny flew backwards, about to land…

And then another oval blast was flying at Danny. Danny yelped and leapt again as soon as he landed, flying off to the side as the projectile struck the ground and exploded, sending cars flying and detonating from the heat, and even as Danny was flying through the air another blast was heading for him, as Danny bounced off the side of a building and flew back even more, the fire shot exploding against the side of the building and causing the five story structure to buckle inward and collapse, even as Danny landed and leapt backwards again as a forth shot headed for him, blasting another huge crater in the street.

Laughing, her hands throwing off shot after shot, Flammadea chased Danny with her attacks, as the boy frantically leapt and dodged away from the blasts, the explosions blowing a line of destruction and wreckage across the streets of downtown Amity Park.

* * *

A line of ruination that Sam Manson could see, all too well, on the hills outside Amity Park, where Danny had left her, halfway conscious, telling her she would be safe there. Sam had woken up fully just in time to see Flammadea's final attack against the Titans blow a massive crater in the middle of her home town, and as she had watched, the destruction had only grown, as Danny had rejoined the fight and Flammadea had begun kicking his ass six ways from Sunday, hell, seven ways. The demolition had zig-zagged back from the ground to the sky, including a huge blast in her direction that hadn't actually gone anywhere near Sam but she had still felt the heat as she threw herself to the ground, covering her ears as the mountain behind her was rocked with an explosion. Lifting herself up, Sam had watched in horror as the series of explosions had begun across Amity Park, toppling buildings and turning streets she had walked since childhood into charnel pits. 

And…she knew she had to go back.

She did not know why. Chances are she would just get in the way, and besides, Amity Park, with its clashing forces and fire spewing cloud, was probably more dangerous then the battlefields of all the great wars of the 20th century. She should stay up here, where it was safe…

Unless Danny lost. Then no place was safe, anywhere on Earth. Perhaps others might defeat Flammadea, but Sam had been a part of her. And while she only had vague memories, she could remember the girl's anger. It was utterly inhuman, a living thing unto itself, nothing that would not yield, hesitate, or hold back in its lone goal: revenge against everything that Flammadea had been forced to go through due to the hands of men. Before Flammadea could be stopped, her wrath would do incalculable damage, take untold amounts of life…even the best and the brightest would be hard pressed to snuff out such an unholy vengeance…

Against it…even Danny…

She couldn't stay up here. Not when she could help, in some way, in ANY way. Perhaps this marked her as a foolish girl who did not understand reality, as Savior might have said…but she didn't care. She did what she thought was right. And she didn't back down. Not after Danny hadn't for her.

She started down the hill, heading back to the slowly growing disaster area that was Amity Park.

* * *

A disaster area that Flammadea was doing her best to add to, as she laughed and continued firing bolt after bolt of fiery destruction after Danny, the kid leaping like a mad jackrabbit to get away, as the fire blasts destroyed anything they struck, toppling buildings like they were made of Lego's and incinerating cars like they were the wood carvings of automobiles Boy Scout Troops sometimes made to race. She was a star, a red giant, a super nova, her fire consuming all before her. The world was as it should be, all things being made right. 

Danny refused to be consumed though, as he leapt and bounced across the streets, trying to figure out a plan. He couldn't fly: the blasts homed in and in the air Danny would be a sitting (soaring?) duck. All he could do was jump and…what? Hope Flammadea ran out of power? He more expected Vlad to appear and confess that he killed John F. Kennedy before launching into a Hilary Duff song then he expected that to happen.

So he leapt on, his city breaking and burning around him…

And he decided, as he did a gigantic backwards flip and landed in the middle of a large intersection (ironically, the same intersection in which Danny had managed to detonate the first round of missiles the Fenton-copter had fired at him roughly ten million years ago), that this was it. He wasn't running any more.

And then, as Flammadea appeared over the building, and several more oval blasts of fire flew at him…the sanity of that decision suddenly became dubious. But Danny didn't have time to flip-flop: instead he struck a battle pose and screamed as he prepared to batter off the attacks.

He never had to, as his scream suddenly caused the blasts to veer off and away from him. Several powerful explosions erupted in front of, behind, and on the buildings above Danny…but none of the blasts hit him. The heat slammed against him, the wind blowing his hair around, and then the ever-present dust/smoke cloud swathed him…but he stood there, unharmed, as the smoke swiftly blew away.

Flammadea lowered herself down to his level, looking both interested and perturbed as Danny readjusted his position and got ready for her next move.

It wasn't long in coming, as Flammadea quickly grew amused again and raised her hands. Balls of white fire appeared glowing above them, even as twin tendrils of flame emerged from Flammadea's back and pointed over her like a scorpion's tail.

"Perhaps a straight out shot is needed." Flammadea said.

And she thrust all four appendages forward, and four lines of intense flame, two red, two white, shot at Danny, melting the street in a line below them, and as they closed in Danny watched them, even as sweat bloomed on his face, his right fingers slightly clenched as he watched the fire streams come, and he wondered what he was doing…

And then he saw the four blasts starting to come together to merge…

And somehow he knew what to do as he leapt forward, doing a spiraling spin, his body flying into the four blasts before they combined into one, his limbs somehow finding the closing gaps of the four flame blasts, and even as his limbs twisted away from the powerful flame expulsion he felt power shoot down his arm and concentrate in his palm, and he thrust it out and fired. This wasn't like his usual ectoblasts: this was much thinner, and much faster.

It struck Flammadea in the face and literally blew half her head off.

The fire lines immediately disappeared, as Danny did one last tight twirl and landed on his feet, looking at his handiwork, as Flammadea drew back into her normal position, half of her flaming countenance literally blasted into nothing. Her remaining eye showed all the shock she needed though.

"You know, I've heard of having half a mind, but this is ridiculous." Danny quipped. He couldn't help it.

He should have though, as new flame exploded in the gap and Flammadea's face quickly reformed, the restored expression once again blazing with vehemence.

"I'LL CUT _YOU_ IN HALF!" Flammadea screamed, and thrust back her arm. A giant blade of flame, almost like a boomerang, formed above her head…a blade over twenty feet long. Danny's eyes widened. "FALL TO PIECES!"

"Why did I have to smart aleck, is it some kind of reflex action that comes with powers…!" Danny yelled to himself as he flew up and backwards as the deadly giant blade lanced at him. He'd have to time it just right or his Halfa status would take on a whole new meaning…

The blade closed in, and Danny lifted his legs and spun over the blade at the last second. As he recovered he watched the blade fly on down the street and sheer the building at the end of it in half. As the building collapsed on itself, Danny turned back to see that Flammadea was forming another one. Deciding that discretion was probably the better part of valor in this case, Danny flew to the left and down the street of the intersection.

He should have picked the other side: it was the same street he had flown down when he had disposed of the aforementioned first six Fenton-copter missiles and the reason he had done so the first time was because Flammadea, then Sizzle, had quickly found him with the Fenton-copter and gone after him once more.

The street appeared to be cursed, because the exact same thing happened. At least the last time, Danny made it to and around the corner.

This time, he never even made it to the corner, as a huge wall of fire exploded up before him and stopped him dead. The heat drove him back, and he whirled as Flammadea turned the corner, her anger having faded a bit but still quite apparent as she smirked and then slashed out her arm, sending off a smaller but still quite large and sharp flame blade at Danny.

And Danny, knowing he couldn't go back and would be sliced to ribbons if he stood still, decided this time on the other side of valor: attack in the face of great danger.

And he did, charging forward, dodging to the side at the last second to avoid Flammadea's flame blade, flying onward as Flammadea fired off blade after blade, the flying swords of fire ripping across the ground and buildings as they flew at Danny, as he did Starfire proud as he dodged and maneuvered around them…

Though not perfectly, as one wasn't evaded quick enough, the ultra-sharp and hot blade slicing open Danny at the shoulder. The pain shot through him, and interrupted his concentration enough for another to zip in and clip his ankle. Pain shot up Danny's leg, but this time he used it as fuel as he flew onward at Flammadea, who realized that Danny was getting too close for fire blades, and how had they all missed him in a fatal sense anyway?

Yelling, Danny attacked…and Flammadea zapped up into the sky at an angle, putting a few hundred feet between herself and Danny within a second. She clenched both sets of fingers, as Danny adjusted his position and flew up into the sky at her, power blazing down her arms and down across every digit, as she thrust her hands down.

Hundreds of mini-fireballs began raining down towards Danny, a mini version of the rain of fire that continued to pound Amity Park (and was on the verge of reaching the hospital).

Danny did not falter, as he flew up into the rain, dodging as best he could, but there were so many, as they slammed into his shoulders, his back, his arms, but Danny didn't back down. One struck his head and his hair briefly ignited and then went out from the wind shear of Danny's upward travel, as he closed in on Flammadea, yelling…

And then zapped to the side, up and around her, getting around her back…

And tendrils of fire shot out from Flammadea's back, reaching up and ensnaring Danny, the boy screaming as he was caught by surprise and burned. Flammadea smirked.

"Sorry kid. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…eh, fuck off."

And she hurled Danny through the air. He crashed into the upper floors of a thirty-story plus office building and tumbled through several cubicles of cheap furniture before coming to a stop.

"Heh." Flammadea said, as she turned to face the building, raising her arms up and bringing her hands together, concentrating.

In the office building, Danny shoved a broken desk off of him, blew a _Dilbert_ comic that had settled on his face off, and then got up, trying to ignore the ache in his body and the burns on his skin.

Growling low in her throat, Flammadea began moving her hands apart, until the two had framed the building between her palms. Her eyes sparked.

"HAHHHHHHHHH!"

Danny felt a rumbling beneath his feet, and he frantically looked around for whatever/wherever Flammadea was planning to attack him with/from, as he flew up and darted his head in all directions.

Which is just what Flammadea assumed he would do, and it cost him.

The concrete around the office building shattered in a perfect square as a shimmering wave of blazing red heat energy flew up around the building. Danny recoiled with a yell as red power shot past his floor, shattering all the windows and hitting him with a wave of intense heat. Before Danny could do anything else the heat barrier had reached the top of the building and sealed itself up, completely encasing the structure in Flammadea's latest demonstration of power.

"The daily grind…how about the daily ground between my fingers?" Flammadea said to the air.

And then she slowly began moving her hands together.

The whole building spasmed as the heat energy suddenly began to contract, crushing in on the thick metal and stone walls of the edifice, the whole building shaking as the outside began to be simultaneously crushed and incinerated. Danny yelled in surprise again, and then decided he had no desire to see what it was like to be the inside of a soda can as he flew at the barrier outside the shattered windows.

And screamed as he was violently repulsed from the shield, as he slammed into it and was shoved back and burned in a few new places. He hit the ground and rolled a few more times before he sprang back into the air, as he heard Flammadea laugh above him.

"Trying to go intal kid? You can only do that so many times before a girl knows how to block it!"

Danny's stomach seized with fear, as cracks suddenly shot across the floor under him. He was trapped and if he didn't do something he'd soon learn what it felt like to be a sardine in a can. Gathering that since the barrier had been going up when he had seen it and hence closed off the roof, Danny opted for down, as he went ethereal again and flew into the floor.

He plunged down, through story after story, as the building continued to be crushed in Flammadea's merciless grip. The forces being exerted on the building caused the floors and walls to buckle violently, throwing everything on them through the air, and after a few floors Danny found himself flying through a storm of debris with each level…a storm that kept getting more and more concentrated as the building continued to be compacted in on itself…

And then the red strand erupted from the wall, just as Danny emerged from his latest ceiling. He never saw it coming, as it smacked into him despite his intangible state and knocked him through a wall with a scream. Confused, he tried to turn intangible, forgetting he was ALREADY intangible and hence just turned tangible again…just in time for him to crash into the storage shelves in the room he'd been knocked into, falling to the floor just before all the stuff on the storage room shelves collapsed on him, even as the walls around him shattered like a thin piece of wood being clamped end to end in a vise.

Danny fell through the floor as he briefly did a "flicker" intangible, landing on the tiled floor below as he coughed violently. His mind reeled as the building shook, as he tried to gather himself…and then another pillar of fiery power plunged through the wall. Danny had just been starting to get up when it exploded from the wall, hence he didn't have far to go when he threw himself flat against the ground, the immensely hot strand shooting over his back. Danny coughed again, wondering how in the hell he could get out of all this…

And then he realized where he was.

And then…as he looked upon a certain construct, he had a crazy idea. Sucking in a deep lungful of air, he flew forward.

Outside, Flammadea laughed again as she continued crushing the building within her barrier, as she slowly compressed it further and further within until she had a rickety line of jagged metal and stone balancing in the middle of what had once been an office building. With one final gesture, she thrust up her hand, and with one final screaming laugh, she thrust down, compacting the makeshift pole into an extra-large paperweight, destroying anything and everything within the building into a super-condensed lump of stone and metal.

* * *

It might have been a neat thing to watch, if not for two things. 

1) There was no one AROUND to watch.

2) The ones who were around had their own problems.

On the roof of Amity Park General, a few residents and a nurse were positioned on the roof, looking warily as the black cloud spewing fireballs down on Amity Park finally began to draw close to them. They had been told that they were supposedly safe, that a superhero had put some kind of magical protection around the building…but then again, these kids ran around in their underwear and constantly saw stuff that would drive normal men insane: they might not have the greatest grasp on reality. So, despite her promise, the heads of the hospital had sent these volunteers up on the roof to keep watch. If the fire cloud arrived, and the fireballs starting hitting the hospital anyway…then everyone was ready for an attempted mass evacuation. Which would certainly be immensely hard considering the situation Amity Park found itself in, but these kind of situations often demand a loss of life vs a total loss of life, and if you just stand there frozen, unable to choose, the situation will choose for you, and it will often pick the latter choice.

The man and two women watched nervously. They'd been in some stressful situations as they tried to save lives and worked on fully becoming doctors, but this…this was beyond normal. If it hadn't been so dangerous, they might have actually been snapping pictures: how many people could say they'd seen something like this?

The cloud was starting to cross over the building, and all three saw the first fireball coming down. They knew enough to see it was probably going to hit the roof fifteen or so feet away from them, but they got ready to run anyway…

In the end, there was no need. The fireball never hit the roof: it hit something invisible several feet above the roof and was snuffed out. There was a rapid flicker of dark power that expanded out from the impact and went over the hospital, briefly allowing anyone who was watching to actually see Raven's shield.

The residents and nurses relaxed, but only a tad. They waited to see if the effect repeated itself: it took nearly thirty seconds for another fireball to fall at the proper angle, but it indeed suffered the same fate. With that the three fled the roof, one of them pulling out a cell phone to call the head doctor to tell him that the shield indeed seemed to be working.

In the end that was unnecessary, as the head doctor had stood at the window of his office and watched himself as a fireball had zoomed down and struck against the window below him: it had also been snuffed out, the flicker of the dark energy passing up past his window before the doctor's eyes. One worry was over for him, but another swiftly replaced it: how long would this so-called magic shield last?

* * *

It appeared that Danny had experienced his own last situation, his last hurrah. All that was left of the office building was a molten lump of gunk that was already starting to cool off as Flammadea floated down, chuckling to herself. It wasn't the most drawn out torture, but she had to admit it was one hell of a finish, the boy's ashes encased within the blob of liquid stone and metal. Maybe after she'd destroyed all of mankind, she'd come back here, dig it up, and put it on display. 

"Well boy…" Flammadea said, as she walked forward. "I guess our little feud is over. Too bad I couldn't hear you scream. You probably sounded like a pig squealing as it was butchered." Flammadea said.

Another thing Flammadea couldn't hear was the sound of the manhole cover being shoved aside.

"I mean, you little fucktard, who were you in the end anyway?" Flammadea asked the ruin.

"No one of consequence."

Flammadea's eyes widened at the voice, and she turned…just as Danny swung his spirit energy encased manhole cover across her face, a dull clang sounding as the impact slammed across Flammadea's features, the blow actually distorting her facial appearance outward like it was made of Silly Putty.

Danny had escaped death yet again, and in the end it was thanks to Flammadea. He'd seen the way she had made her escapes by extending her body outward and transferring her mass in a long twisting line, much like, again, Silly Putty, stretching it out to another end and reforming it there. And if Flammadea could do it…why not Danny?

And that was exactly what he did, as he had taken a deep breath and then flown into and down the toilet in the bathroom he had been in, utilizing a unique variation of his intangibility talent to stretch his body out and flow down into the pipes and rapidly through them, out of the building and into the sewers beneath it. When Flammadea had been finishing up her building squash, Danny had been reforming his body back into its normal shape even as he tried to overcome the immensely unpleasant experience it had been: maybe with practice he could have done it without any effect but he'd improvised it on the spot and that hadn't resulted in the best sensations. These bad feelings had quickly fanned the flame within him again, as he found the sewer exit and the manhole covering it quickly. After listening to Flammadea's gloating, it was quite satisfying to introduce her to the heavy metal disc.

She didn't much care for the introduction, as she reared back from the blow, and as she once again realized Danny was still alive and still plaguing her, she snarled and thrust out her hand.

"YOU MUST DIE!" She screamed, as she fired a fire spear from her palm.

Danny leapt over it.

"Prepare to be disappointed." He said, as he brought the manhole down on her head, smashing it flat, and even as it flowed back up from the blow he spun and slammed Flammadea across the face and body with it again. She flew down the street, and as she stopped Danny reared back his arms as he transferred the manhole cover to one hand, and then he hurled it at Flammadea like a discus, throwing it with enough force that it probably could have gone through two inches of plate steel.

Flammadea glanced at it, and the manhole flashed with fire and then was suddenly metallic ash as it drew within two feet of her. Considering how much heat it takes to MELT a manhole…and we've been over this ground before.

"I don't like to be disappointed." Flammadea replied. "In fact, it makes me try twice as hard."

And then she suddenly disappeared into a twirling wisp of flame, the same way she had disappeared from the last three fights. For a moment, Danny wondered if she had left again…

And then fire exploded into being all around Danny, and suddenly there were five Flammadeas, all standing around him.

"Or maybe FIVE times as hard!" All the Flammadeas laughed, and then they all shot blasts of fire from their hands, eyes, and tendrils. Danny didn't have time to escape and screamed again as he was consumed in the explosion, the blast throwing him to the side and through a building, where he crashed out the other side and slid to a stop at the other end of the street, just where the street met the sidewalk. He groaned, as Flammadea(s) laughed and then turned into streams of fire that flew towards each other, as the five started becoming one again.

Danny began pushing himself up, as anger re-awoke within him…but even though he felt the virtuous wrath flowing through him again, he had no idea what to do to Flammadea. She just seemed to shrug it all off…

And then he spied the lamppost, a typical pole of steel that extended over the street to provide some illumination at night.

_Use it._

Danny wasn't sure where the voice came from, nor what the hell it was talking about. Use what? Use the pole? How? He was stronger in his ghost/human fusion but he wasn't Superman…

And yet he found himself getting up and staggering towards the pole, and then his fingers shot out, grabbing the end as Danny kneeled down. Even as his eyes filled with shock, Danny saw his fingers sinking into the stainless steel, even as the ground shook, and then with a yell Danny yanked the end of the pole right out of the ground. The weight did not strain his arms or body, as he blasted ectoplasmic energy from his eyes and blew off the rock that was clumped at the end.

"I'm baaaaaaccccccck!" Flammadea yelled as she leapt over the building she had blasted Danny through.

Danny turned and swung the pole out, and the light-bulb end slammed into Flammadea, the tip melting against the fire goddess, but it still smashed her into the same building she had sent Danny through with a yell of surprise.

Danny yanked back the steel pole, and noticing that the hooked end was twisted and red from striking Flammadea, he shot twin beams from his eyes again and sliced it off, leaving him with a giant steel baseball bat.

Screaming, as she did when she was taken by surprise, Flammadea exploded from the building that both she and Danny had had the experience of being sent through. The poor structure decided that was enough for its lifetime and joined its many fallen brothers.

And even as it fell behind her, Danny swung out the bat and smashed Flammadea with a gigantic home run swing, sending her flying down the street like an out of control locomotive. Ness would have been proud.

Flammadea stopped at the end, gathering herself. Danny, his harsh gaze the only expression he allowed himself, shifted his grip on the metal pole so the end was tucked under his arm, and then he launched himself into the air, streaking down the street towards Flammadea, the pole held out before him like a javelin, even as green energy crackled out from Danny's body and over the pole.

Flammadea had only recovered enough to see the very end of this charge, as her eyes widened.

"What the hell…!"

Danny smashed the end of the pole into Flammadea and drove her backwards through the wall of the building behind her, Danny going in after her as he ripped the floor he was smashing her through apart, the two of them exploding out the other end in a hail of debris. Danny didn't give Flammadea any time to recover: she was still stuck at the end of the pole and he used that, as he yanked the pole up as hard as he could and flung Flammadea high into the air. Not hesitating for a second, Danny shifted the pole again, slipping her palm under one end, and hurled the large steel shaft up into the air like it weighed nothing.

Flammadea flipped over, and looked down as she saw the pole flying up as if to impale her. With a derisive snort, she zipped aside, the pole flying up past her…

Followed by Danny, as he lanced upward and rammed his knee into Flammadea's torso, once again doubling the fire spirit over from the impact…and then he once again turned intangible and flew up through Flammadea's body. Flammadea may have been able to make a fire barrier that resisted his wraith state, but that was only with considerable concentration: her body did not share that bonus. A fact she probably regretted as Danny flew up, grabbed the pole, and slashed it down, sending Flammadea flying down into another street of Amity Park: the entire street rippled outward from her impact, sending up a spray of shattered concrete and knocking the buildings around it out of kilter. Snorting, Danny flew down to the crater…and found it empty: Flammadea had gone elsewhere. He doubted she had gone far though, and even if she tried, she couldn't escape him. He could smell her.

Flammadea was actually repeating Danny's previous exit from the sewers a street down, though where he exited in a fairly normal way Flammadea just melted through the street. She shook her head, her anger briefly dampened as her mood swung back more to her calm, sociopathic state…and then she spied something.

While the wreckage of the Fenton-copter had been cleared away by Raven, to prevent the Army or Air Force from showing up, examining the wreckage, and tracing it back to the Fentons, which would probably result in their arrest and conviction even IF they could somehow prove they weren't behind the actual rain of destruction the combat machine had caused…the same could not be said for the wreckage of the news helicopter Chet Ubetcha had used to try and get his breaking news before the news nearly broke his connection to the living world. It had fallen down to another street, and by the time the police had re-gathered themselves enough to find it, it had already finished burning, leaving the scorched metal structure behind. By then, the mass exodus that had seized the people of Amity Park, their senses (accurately) screaming that what had occurred that afternoon had just been a warm-up and something REALLY bad was coming, had already begun, and all the police had done was throw up some crime scene tape around it and leave it there. And so it lay in the street. And it had given Flammadea an idea.

Danny had followed the trail to the street Flammadea was on swiftly…and once again found nothing. His brow narrowed: he knew she was close, but where…

A shrieking sound of ripping metal got his attention, as he turned…

And his eyes widened in surprise as a blackened steel framework that had once been the tail of a news helicopter swung at Danny's pole. Danny yelped and tried to block, but his angle was bad and the impact rang through his arms. And if you ask why the scorched and weakened tail structure didn't break…well, the haze of red power around it will probably answer your question.

"You just don't have much luck with helicopters, do you?" Flammadea laughed, as she yanked the framework down against the side of the pole, and Danny had to leap back and weaken his defense even more to avoid the still present and very deadly tail rotor that was at the end of the frame. Stumbling, he tried to regain his balance, and Flammadea laughed as she, holding the framework more with her tendrils then her actual hands, swung her makeshift sword around and slammed it against Danny's. The pole slipped a bit, but Danny managed to quickly regain the grip and reapplied pressure, shoving Flammadea back. The two slammed their huge, improvised swords together, the blows ringing through the street. It was a scene that would have done the Brotherhood of Dada (remember their previous mention back in Chapter 9?) proud.

Flammadea didn't much care for some crazy city-in-painting sealers though: she wanted to do some harm. And she was just about to, as with a smirk her eyes flashed again.

And then the red power flowed off the burned framework and drilled into the green energy surrounding Danny's weapon, and before Danny could react the power had broken through his. Danny screamed as the pole suddenly heated red-hot in his grip, and with the heat immediately making said grip virtually nonexistent, Flammadea easily used the metal tail to shove/toss the lamp pole out of Danny's hands, the heated rod slamming against the side of a building while Flammadea swung her weapon back and knocked Danny to the ground. With a laugh, she leapt up as she shifted her own grip and then drove the end of the helicopter into Danny's fallen form. The street shook with the impact, and Danny screamed as Flammadea began pressing down as hard as she could, trying to make the end of the helicopter's tail a permanent fixture in Danny's chest.

"You know…" Flammadea said over Danny's screams. "Considering your luck with vehicles, it's probably a good thing you didn't live long enough to get a driver's license." Flammadea smirked, and pressed down even harder. Danny screamed again, trying to push back, but the leverage was with the flame deity, and she was just so strong…

And then, even though he could swear his chest was about to cave in, Danny saw something: the tail rotor. It was just above him…and he realized that if Flammadea could break through his energy essence, he was damn sure he could do the same!

So, even though it increased the pressure even more, Danny took one arm away from holding up the end of the helicopter tail and reached out, trying to concentrate, green energy infusing his fingers.

"Now what?" Flammadea laughed.

And then the green energy shot out from Danny's hand, enveloped the tail rotor, and with a shriek ripped it from the framework and sent it spinning forward at high speed.

It cleaved Flammadea's head in two.

The pressure immediately ceased, as Flammadea flew back a bit from the impact. Danny shoved the helicopter tail aside and took in gulping gasps of air, even as Flammadea floated there, her two head halves wilting to the side like an under watered flower. Strangely, unlike the last time she had had an experience like this, she did not look angry. Rather, she just looked perturbed.

"First the melting, then the freezing, then the slicing the head in half…" Flammadea said as the halves began to be drawn back together, reconnecting. "Man, Robert Patrick's gonna go medieval on our ass with lawsuits."

Danny flew into the air and connected with a cracking scissor kick, sending Flammadea flying back up into the sky. Drawing in another pained gasp, his chest badly bruised from what Flammadea had just done, Danny's eyes quickly spied a way for payback. The rest of the charred wreckage of the news helicopter still lay on the street, including the twisted and bent but still in-one-piece main rotor. His eyes once again flashing with rage, Danny flew over to the primary aerodynamic part of the machine, thrusting out his hands as green energy surged out and enveloped the seared metal construct.

Flammadea corrected herself in the air and shook her head.

"Ugh, boy sure gets ahead of himself on these heady matters. Whole thing's coming to a head. And those terrible puns makes me worry if something was knocked loose in MY head." Flammadea muttered, as she ran a hand through her hair and then looked down.

As Danny, with a scream, yanked the helicopter rotor from its support and sent it flying up at Flammadea, whirling up at her in a dervish of slicing death, much like the Fenton-copter's main rotor had at Danny and Starfire. The difference was, Flammadea didn't have enough flying skill to move.

"Well, SPLIT." Flammadea said.

The giant bladed rotor sliced right through Flammadea, ripping her body to bits. Danny lowered his hands and the rotor's green energy container/guide faded and the burned metal fell back to the streets, where it shattered on a rooftop.

Leaving only several dozen floating flicks of fire, like mid-air candles, albeit with no actual candles. Danny's eyes widened.

And then all the flames expanded and formed into a Flammadea, all of them laughing, and Danny realized just how badly he'd messed up.

"You went for a strike, all you got was a seven and ten split!" All the Flammadeas laughed. "Now roast up like turkey!"

And all the Flammadeas began firing down on Danny, thousands of fireballs streaking from the sky, and Danny yelled and tried to fly away as all the projectiles rained down on the him and the blocks surrounding him, blowing everything to pieces as the buildings buckled and collapsed under Flammadeas' assault. Danny tried to fly clear but there were too many blasts and when one struck him it was all over as he fell, screaming, into the rising mass of explosions.

* * *

"Fifteen minutes remaining…" The computer intoned.

* * *

Danny's smoking body flew back up from the last of the explosions and smoke clouds, his outfit now torn in several places. The hundreds of blasts had first pounded him into the ground and then actually tossed him back into the air before they had ceased, and Danny was still going up from their eruptions… 

But not for long, as Flammadea streaked down from the sky and slammed her fist across Danny's face. He whirled in mid-air from the impact, as Flammadea streaked past him…and then exploded into wispy flames and was gone.

And seemingly reappeared, behind Danny, as she lanced in and slammed her foot into his back. He flew forward with a scream, as the second Flammadea disappeared…and then a third one lanced up from below Danny, smashing him with yet another uppercut, knocking him up as the third Flammadea disappeared…and a forth lanced down at an angle and slammed her foot into his face, sending him back down, the forth Flammadea vanishing just in time for a fifth one to knock him back into the air with a axehammer strike. Flammadea had found another use for her clones, as each one nailed Danny with a punishing blow and then disappeared as Danny flew into the eager hands and feet of the next one, as Danny was smashed back and forth across the sky and through a few buildings before he was finally thrown up again…in front of the real Flammadea, the one that commanded her true sentience, as she smirked.

And then she thrust out her hand and a gigantic stream of fire erupted from them, enveloping Danny and blasting him across Amity Park. Somehow, Danny managed to scream again as he flew across the hemisphere…and right over a suddenly terrified Sam Manson, who immediately ran in the direction Danny had gone.

Danny slammed against something, HARD. The impact knocked the wind out of him, though he somehow managed to keep enough mental capacity to stay aloft and not fall to the street below. His whole body was screaming with pain, but he ignored it as a notion wormed its way into his mind. Yeah, he'd hit hard…but not as hard as he should have had he struck something solid. So what had he hit…

Danny turned his head.

And his eyes widened. Even his up close view didn't keep him from recognizing what he had hit: Amity Park General, near the top of it to be precise. Slowly, he reached out and pressed his hand against the barrier. Some kind of shield, with more give then a normal wall. Must have been put there by Raven. The shield had blocked him, and even softened his impact…

And then, as a cold pit of horror awoke in his stomach, he realized how much danger he was putting the building in. It might have been shielded from Danny, and probably from the rain of fire (which is why Danny assumed it was there in the first place)…but what about Flammadea herself? He had to get away from here! As far away, take the battle across the city, not let…

Danny turned around.

And Flammadea streaked from the sky, her foot slamming into Danny's chest and torso, squashing him against the shield and her limb, and the wind was driven out of him with a wheeze and he fell, just a bit, before one of Flammadea's tendrils caught him.

"Hold it boy, we're just starting to have…fun…?" Flammadea said, as her eyes noticed a flicker. Intrigued, she looked from where it had come…and then, with another tendril, she reached out.

The barrier repulsed the tendril. Flammadea arched an eyebrow.

"Well well, a do not enter sign. How rude!"

Danny pulled himself from the tendril and flew at Flammadea, trying to knock her away from the hospital.

Flammadea dodged aside from his punch and once again slammed her fist deep into his chest. Danny reared over her arm from the impact, and with a hacking cough greenish blood spilled from within his mouth.

"They didn't invite me to their party! Guess I'll have to crash." Flammadea said, as several tendrils reached from her back and grabbed the prone Danny. "Fortunately, I have a key! It's not a skeleton key, but that's just because I haven't applied enough heat yet!"

And Flammadea flew back, as her tendrils yanked Danny back, and then with a pointed finger, the tendrils slammed the boy forward, smashing him up against the shield. It rippled outward from the impact, as Danny gasped out a half-hearted cry.

"Lock's rusty!" Flammadea said, as she pulled Danny back and then slammed him against the shield again. "Man, this keeps up I'll need a locksmith!" Flammadea continued as she pulled back and slammed Danny against the shield for the third time. This time, instead of actively repulsing Danny, the shield seemed to bend in slightly, leaving Danny stuck in a slight indentation.

"Man, my key's not working!" Flammadea grumped. "Guess I'll just have to kick the door down."

And Flammadea flew forward and began barraging Danny with punches, smashing the boy with such rapid fire impacts by the time he felt one she had already delivered two more, his body jerking and spasming under the assault, as Flammadea hammered on him, trying to use his body to get through the shield. Making an annoyed sound, Flammadea flew back and fired off several fireballs into Danny, and even before the smoke cleared she had flown back and began slamming Danny with more punches and kicks. Danny had thought he'd been on the end of ass kickings before: in reality he hadn't seen nothing yet when it came to being trashed…

"Hey!" Flammadea said, as she slammed a few more blows into Danny's body and then flew back, as more tendrils expanded and coiled out around her arm. "I'm coming up, so you better get this party started!"

And she lanced forward, striking out with both her fist and her tendrils.

The shield shattered and Danny, somehow managing another scream, was slammed against the wall of the hospital. The whole building shook, and everyone inside screamed and made noises of fear and surprise. Danny just made a low groan, as more greenish blood leaked from his mouth.

"Finally! I'm in!" Flammadea said, grinning. "Now to bring down the house!"

And her tendrils coiled around Danny, yanked him back, and then slammed him against the hospital again. The building shook again, and cracks sprang up from where Danny had been impacted. Pain shot through Danny's body, pain on top of pain, agony enveloping agony, a hell that even Samael could not conceive of…

Flammadea reared Danny back and slammed him against the building again. The cracks spiderwebbed out more, as dust and loose bits of the ceiling began to fall inside the hospital and the people screamed in their fear.

"Man, I usually don't have THIS much fun!" Flammadea commented, as she unraveled her tendrils. Danny started slumping off the wall and then she fired out her fist, slamming it into his gut, and as his head came forward from the doubling over she grabbed it and slammed the back of Danny's head against the stone. A terrible spasm ran through Danny's body…

And his hand, in a random motion, pressed flat against the wall.

And his closed eyes suddenly opened wide, as images flooded through him, somehow drawn from the building itself into his mind, Flammadea's merry face completely fading away as rapid fire images played before him. He saw young people and old people, children and babies, injured people, sick people, people in surgery, people on life support, people who had been burned by the very fires Sizzle had caused. And he saw their fear, as children cried for their parents, and grown up men held the hands of their mothers and fathers and wondered if they would both be leaving the world today, and surgeons trying to stay steely under pressure despite the fact the world seemed to be falling apart around them, and people huddled together in rooms, some praying, some just trying to give comfort to each other, a cavalcade of humanity all under assault by an unholy utterly lunatic force…

Flammadea's hand slashed out again.

Danny caught it.

"NO." He hissed.

Flammadea was a bit surprised at this, but not much.

"Oh. What was that?" Flammadea said, as she drew back her tendrils for another strike.

And then a shockwave of power hit her.

"I….SAID……" Danny snarled as he opened his eyes, now glowing bright green. "**NO!"**

And power exploded around him, a sphere of might that drove Flammadea back and actually shattered the wall behind Danny even more, as might beyond anything Danny had ever felt surged through him, as his blazing eyes fixed on Flammadea.

"What?" She said.

Danny lanced out with a punch, the impact noise ringing through the streets as Flammadea was smashed away at a speed and power unlike any she had felt before. She flew down at an angle and crashed into a building and kept going, as she was driven along the ground and through the buildings behind it, a line of destruction following her uncontrollable trip, a long trail of dust and smoke spiraling up as the line went halfway across Amity Park.

A few shattered pieces of rock were still falling from the small hole Danny had made in the hospital behind him, as Danny turned his head and looked at his bit of property damage. His eyes were still glowing, but softer now, a more benevolent radiance.

The pieces Danny had broken off floated back up and refitted back into the hole. With a flash the surface was pristine again, as if it was never touched. The same could be said of the entire hospital.

Danny floated out a few feet and reached out his hand, touching the ragged end where Flammadea had used his body to break through Raven's shield. Misty green energy flowed off his hand and the shield swiftly was reformed. Reformed and strengthened.

"It's ok now." Danny said, and while he seemed to be speaking to himself, somehow the whole hospital heard him. "I'll keep you safe."

And Danny turned back to the line of destruction he'd razed across Amity Park, as the glow in his eyes went from benevolent to blazing.

"Because now, FLAMMADEA GETS HERS." Danny snarled, and flew off.

Far in the distance, Flammadea screamed as she erupted from the crater at the end of her trip, flipping up and back and landing on the street beyond it. She had no idea what had happened: One moment she'd been on top of the world and the next she'd been down in the dirt. All because of the boy, that fucking goddamn million trick never-dying bane of her existence boy, and if she did anything she was going to destroy him, wipe him from the face of the earth, and she could see him coming and she thrust out her arms as her tendrils snaked over her body and more joined them, all of them glowing with white fire, and she bellowed with rage as she let loose with dozens of arcing white fire blasts, the attacks so close together they bunched up and intersected over each other, as they all headed for the charging Danny.

Danny flew right into them like they weren't there. The explosion destroyed everything before Flammadea, disintegrating all the buildings in front of her…and then Danny flew out from the explosion, not even slowed down, and he hadn't even gone intangible: he'd just flown right into the attack and blast and out the other end, and as Flammadea did a double take he streaked on towards her and struck.

The sound from his fist striking Flammadea was like the sound of two gods clashing weapons. The impact blew away every stray bit of debris and dust that was around the pair…and then Danny struck again, this blow shattering the ground below the two as Flammadea was once again smashed up into the air, a firework from hell. Spinning out of control, Flammadea finally regained some sense of where she was and began to form a plan to strike back as she began correcting herself, high above the downtown sector.

Danny's hand seized on her ankle.

"What?" Flammadea yelled, as she was swung up and then pistoned downward as Danny streaked back towards the city. Right below them was the second tallest building in Amity Park, with 68 stories.

Danny slammed Flammadea against the roof like Thor bringing his hammer down on one of his legendary foes. Flammadea was smashed through the entire building, fire exploded out from all sides on each floor as she went down, a domino effect along the whole building before Flammadea hit the ground and the building imploded and collapsed on her, the din from its falling like the noise of an ancient primordial beast dying in some god-forsaken swamp. Dust rolled off in great waves around the destroyed structure, covering the surrounding streets in gray.

Except where Danny was landing: the dust blew away from him, as he watched with hard eyes on the spot where he have driven Flammadea, seemingly straight down to hell itself.

But hell had already demonstrated to have a tenuous grip on the spirit, as there was a rumbling that built to a great roar, and then Flammadea blasted all the wreckage away from her. Once again, she was back in her larger ten foot form, and this time it wasn't part of a play to given Danny the impression he was winning. He WAS winning, that had actually HURT, and she was utterly maddened by it.

"YOU FUCK!" She shrieked, as she thrust up her arms. A ball of fire began forming above her, swiftly growing to the size of an Olympic swimming pool. "BURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNN!"

Flammadea hurled the ball at Danny.

Danny raised an arm and five green needles of energy fired from his fingers into the ball, and then the flame was split apart and dissipated by an explosion within it. Flammadea's eyes widened: had she had normal eyes they might have been bulging with veins at the moment.

Danny lowered his arms, and then with a scream he clenched his fists and diaphanous green energy exploded around him, a sphere of power that crushed and shoved anything near Danny away from him, shattering another shallow crater under Danny's feet, bending the nearby light poles out of shape, and sending everything nearby that wasn't nailed down flying like they weighed nothing.

Flammadea couldn't believe it. Where was the boy getting this strength, this power? Well, it didn't matter, because it was nothing compared to hers! She'd show him, as she clenched her own fists and let loose with her own war bellow. Streams of crimson energy poured from her body, shooting upward, drilling holes through the clouds and any nearby buildings.

Danny erupted forward towards her.

Flammadea was ready and waiting.

The two slammed together, and any window that had survived the fight up until then in the surrounding ten blocks shattered in a storm of cutting glass, as Flammadea and Danny furiously exchanged blows. But neither could get through the other's guard, as the two superpowers clashed violently. And someone needs to provide me with a metaphor similar to the irresistible force meets the immovable object, because it's been done to death.

Flammadea's fist slammed into Danny's crossed arms: Danny's kick slammed against Flammadea's blocking forearm. Danny's fist slammed into Flammadea's shoulder: Flammadea's fist met Danny's as he intercepted it with the side of his own fist. Their feet digging into the dirt, the two reared out and locked arms, their fingers intertwining as the two exerted their might against each other, the ground shattering around them, as the powers of light and darkness battled each other at the highest peak known to man.

And in the end, Danny won, as the two split apart, traded a few more blows, and then Danny ducked under Flammadea's punch, balanced on his hands, and thrust his leg up, doing a sideways upper thrust kick that once again sent Flammadea shooting up into the air. Danny followed her like he was her shadow, as Flammadea spun back to face him and fired off another gigantic blast of white fire. Danny turned intangible, and the blast flew on through him and struck the ground. Another gigantic explosion shook Amity Park, and another skyscraper near where Danny and Flammadea's battle raged supports finally gave out as it came crashing down on the city.

Flammadea was already reacting as Danny reformed and punched at her: she zipped away and punched at his head. Danny zipped away and kicked at her chest, Flammadea zipped away as she lashed at him with a tendril and then continued flying away at high speed…as Danny dodged the tendril and flew after her, spinning and slamming his heel into her face. She flew across the sky like a shooting star, and then with a scream she flipped over and cut loose with hundreds of fire blasts from her hands. Danny flew into the explosions again, but this time, instead of an outright charge, he stopped and thrust out his own hands, and with his own scream he began firing off hundreds of his own blasts, the two onslaughts meeting each other and filling the sky above Amity Park with explosions that all combined into one big blast that pounded down on the besieged city.

And then Danny appeared behind Flammadea. She tried to turn…

Danny's arcing axe kick sent Flammadea shooting back into the ground and smashing another line of destruction across Amity Park, more buildings collapsing from the impact and power.

Danny cracked his neck, and then flew down to the crater. He waved a hand and a powerful wind blew the smoke away…revealing an empty hole. Danny arched an eyebrow. Where had she gone…

"Over here, asshole."

Danny turned to the sound of the voice, making out the figure…

And then a dagger of pure ice stabbed into his heart as he realized Flammadea wasn't alone.

"Well now, isn't this a surprise?" Flammadea asked from where she floated, arms crossed, a tendril extended from her shoulder…from which dangled a struggling Sam. "Did you lose this?"

The dagger became a glacier, as Danny realized that Sam, as he should have expected, hadn't been able to leave him behind, her sense of duty and caring (and maybe more?) overwhelming her common sense, and she'd headed back into Amity Park and look what happened, the old cliché, wrong place and wrong time, hero and villain and supporting cast that's put the hero over a barrel. There ought to be a law.

Danny opened his mouth, but no sound came out, as emotions roiled under his gut: fear for Sam, anger at her for not listening, and under that the rage Danny carried for Flammadea, for all she had done and all she kept doing, the latest being her hiding behind Sam despite the fact that she had enough power to literally raise hell.

"Oh wait wait, allow me." Flammadea said. "'No! Don't hurt her! I'll do anything, but don't hurt her!' That about right?" Flammadea asked, and smirked.

"Danny…" Sam managed to choke out.

"No wait, I know this too! 'Forget about me, save yourself!'. Do you actually think he's going to do that, your traitorous whore? If men aren't sick, they're stupid beyond belief! Utter wastes of flesh!" Flammadea said.

"Don't do this." Was all Danny said.

"Well now, at least that's somewhat original. You know what? I think I'll just roast her and use her bones to dig out your heart." Flammadea said. Smoke began rising from Sam's neck, and she screamed. "You should learn something Danny Fenton! No matter how well you play this game, in the end I'm holding all the cards."

Danny did not leap to Sam's rescue.

"Not all."

His eyes flashed.

And the tendril holding Sam snapped, the connection to Flammadea broken in mid-air, much to her sudden intense surprise.

"What the HELL…!"

Danny zapped up and leapt backwards, smashing Flammadea under the chin with his right foot and sending her flying off into the sky (again).

A small scream escaping her throat as she started to fall, Sam suddenly found herself stopping, a foot from the ground, a green energy sphere surrounding her, and she looked at Danny, his arm out…and his eyes down.

"Danny…" She said.

"You have to go away Sam." Danny said quietly, and before Sam could protest her sphere was suddenly flying through the air, away from Danny. Her startled yell of protest faded quickly as the sphere carried her away, somewhere safe.

Danny lowered his arm.

"I don't want you to see me like this." Danny said.

Flammadea was doing her usual correction in mid-air, as anger seethed through her. What the hell had happened! It was like he'd cut her connection with a thought! That was impossible, even for him! How did…why she…

And then her eyes spied it, the rapidly moving green sphere down on the ground. And one didn't need to be a genius to figure out what it was. Flammadea smirked, as fire exploded on her hand. Well, it was impersonal, but it still served her purposes, as she aimed…

At Danny's chest, as she suddenly was floating in front of her, his eyes intense.

"Stop it." Danny said.

"Aw man!" Flammadea said. "Now my shot's wrecked! Now your girlfriend has to suffer before she dies!"

Danny's eyes widened, and then they filled with a rage that rivaled even Flammadea's.

"You…!"

Flammadea blurred away from Danny's punch, as she spun off and reformed, re-aiming her shot…and then her eyes widened as she found Danny in front of her again.

"YOU…….!"

Danny slashed out his leg across Flammadea's head, and then slammed an uppercut under her chin. Before she could begin her upward journey Danny furiously stopped her by pounding dozens upon dozens of punches into her stomach, and then rearing back and thrusting out his leg, kicking Flammadea in the face and sending her flying into the distance.

"YOU!" Danny screamed, as he reared back, green energy exploding on his hand, and he fired off an arcing blast of green power. It struck Flammadea, and her silhouette appeared against the explosion before she vanished in the gigantic green energy blast. Danny saw her form fly from the bottom of the detonation and crash into the ground. His heart swelling with righteous rage, he thrust back his hands as they glowed green…

And then he began firing down on Flammadea, dozens of blasts, hundreds, a myriad of power shots that flew down and consumed her form in destruction. Danny kept firing, and firing, and firing, the explosion smashing down buildings as it continued growing ever wider and ever higher, as Danny screamed and fired and fired and screamed, wanting nothing more…nothing more…

Then…

What Flammadea wanted of him.

The blasts stopped, and the green energy fizzled out as Danny looked at his hands.

"…What am I becoming?" Danny asked himself.

He already knew the answer. The same thing that befell Savior was befalling him. For the sake of trying to save lives, Savior had tried to control everything. For the sake of saving lives, Danny was becoming as relentless and violent as Flammadea was.

He remembered himself on the throne…

…He couldn't live with that. Maybe it was the most practical thing…but it wasn't the right thing.

He had to do the right thing. He had to try and end the war, instead of just prolonging it.

His furious green eyes fading back to the more muted green he usually wore, Danny flew down to the devastation he had, moments ago, wrought against his enemy. A jerk of his head produced a wind to blow away the smoke, revealing a shadowy form pulling herself from under a pile of wreckage. Strangely, instead of blasting it all off her and flying up, her usual motif, Flammadea was getting up like a normal human who was under debris might have. The fact that Danny had reduced her to that, even for a moment…it only finalized Danny's resolve.

"Flammadea!"

Flammadea's head jerked in the direction of the voice. Her face was unmarred: you can hardly bruise, cut, and scar fire after all, but the look of baleful rage in her eyes was all Danny needed.

"Is this what you want?" Danny asked. Flammadea's expression did not, on the surface, appear to change, but Danny caught a tiny part of curiosity at the expression: it clearly wasn't what she was expecting to hear after Danny's eruption of fury. Danny raised his arms and gestured around him with them, indicating the ruins that surrounded the two, wrought by both of them in their battle.

"Is this ALL you want?" Danny asked. "This endless fight? This never-ending destruction, clashing again and again and again and again, until there's nothing left of both of us, in this world or the next?" Danny asked. "Oh, maybe you claim you want nothing but all this. But there's only so much of this to go around Flammadea. And I know, and I think, deep down, that YOU know, that it won't solve the main problem that drives you. Your pain. The pain that eats at you. No matter what you do, Flammadea…this won't make it go away. No amount of killing or destroying will take it away. No amount at all. You're fighting a battle in a war you've already lost." Danny said. Flammadea's malignant eyes only increased in intensity, but she did not make a move to attack him again. Instead she stood there, her dress and hair swirling around her, as Danny lowered his arms.

"You can't win." Danny said. "This can't end your pain. And the pain is what drives you to this. It may center on my destruction, or that of the male species, or hell, this entire planet…but when it all comes down to it, you just want the pain to end. But how can it end? Revenge didn't stop it, death didn't stop it, and I have a feeling godhood hasn't stopped it either. So why do anything else but destroy? You have no other options." Danny said. "Well Flammadea, I have options. The option to end this all, once and forever."

Danny thrust out a hand.

"Give me your pain."

Flammadea arched an eyebrow.

"Take my hand! You're driven by your past and all the suffering it brought you, well, give it to me! I'll take the burden away from you! I'll take it all! The memories, the nightmares, the horrors, the poison that's been eating into your mind and heart and soul your entire life! Don't you see Flammadea? Do this, and you win! You win in a way you could never manage in this endless chaos! You want me to suffer? Then give me YOUR suffering! I'll take it away from you, and I'LL have to bear it, and you…you'll finally have peace. No more anguish, no more rage, no more need to destroy everything, because it'll all be gone. All of it. You want to take your revenge on mankind? You see me as their paragon? Well then Flammadea, let me feel everything YOU feel, and let yourself be FREE of it. Forever."

Flammadea cocked her head.

"This is no trick. What could I do, make the pain worse? Could it get any worse? Is killing me the best way to sate your hatred? Or would you rather give me the agony you've lived with, a torment I'll have to bear the rest of my life? Doesn't that sound so much better?" Danny asked. "Take my hand. Give me your pain. You win the day and find your peace. Come on Flammadea. No more fighting. It won't solve your problems. But this will. I promise. Give me your hand."

Perhaps many would say Danny had no idea what he was offering to take from Flammadea. Savior had spoken to him of how fruitless and unattainable the goal of understanding what drove a lunatic was. If he did indeed take the hideous memories within Flammadea, and the festering wounds that had seared so deep into her being that even death could not separate her from them, it could break him, instantly, drive him deep into a drooling catatonia from which he would never emerge again from, or worse, dig in deep into his being and sense of self and slowly begin chipping away at everything he held dear within himself, chipping and twisting and clawing and rotting away within him until Danny woke up one day and found he was something he'd never conceived of being, something not even found within his worst nightmares, and worse, something he could never escape or change back from…

But…at least he'd understand what he was accepting. At least he'd have a fighting chance against the terrible sickness that raged within Flammadea's soul. He had a loving family, a powerful support base, all the help he could want, unlike Flammadea, who was just been given horror after horror until she had been driven beyond any human state or existence…

Males, petty greedy sick destroying males had done this to Flammadea. And the weight of their sins…Danny was sure it would be excruciating. But in the end…he could bear it better then Flammadea. In the end, his sacrifice would save the world from the consequences of those men's actions…

No one had ever helped Flammadea. No one. And things long overdue had a truly heavy price.

But…if it would stop this madness, bring peace to Flammadea's soul and end her need to destroy everything, save his town and all the women Flammadea had sucked dry…he'd do it.

Sacrifice.

That was what heroes did.

"Give me your hand."

Flammadea just stared at him, the baleful look gone. Now her eyes seemed wide and amazed, almost like a children seeing Santa Claus, as if the reality of the offer was starting to sink in and she couldn't believe the concept of it. A life without pain…

She turned, just a bit.

And then she took a step towards Danny. Then another. Then another.

Danny did not move: he stood there with his hand out. He did not give any indication whatsoever that what was about to happen would be terrible for him. He could not give her any clue that he did not want to do it, any type of bracing or hesitation. He had to stand, and he had to bear what was coming…because it would end it…finally end it…

Slow, hesitatingly, Flammadea reached out her hand. It extended until it was just over his.

Danny held his gaze. His eyes spoke for him.

_Do it_.

Flammadea blinked.

And then…she lowered her hand.

Just…for a moment, their palms touched.

"You still don't get it kid." Flammadea said.

And then she smashed Danny across the face with her other hand, sending him flying across the shattered street. His shock was so great he didn't make any kind of defensive or reflexive moves to lessen his injuries from hitting the ground, as he did so and bounced a few times: the pain finally snapped him out of it and he flipped up to his feet, even as he looked upon Flammadea, his eyes wide with astonishment, and not of the good kind.

"…What…why…?" Danny asked.

"Why? Why? WHY?" Flammadea snapped back, her tone eerie in the sense that she seemed to be talking to herself. "You haven't learned a damn thing kid. You're a stupid little boy, safe and snug in your little town, not understand a whit of what the human mind and heart is TRULY like. Everything's black and white to you, all problems able to be fixed, as long as people are willing to make the effort to fix them. In your safe little world, you can never, WILL never understand the truth about living." Flammadea said.

Danny was silent, as Flammadea threw up her arms in a mockery of what Danny had done a minute ago.

"You know what living is kid? Living is keeping on going even when you don't want to, when you so dearly want it to stop, because no matter what gets inflicted on you, you can't overcome the damn urge to keep going, keep going on, even if nothing lies in the future but the same, continuing onward and onward through the same old shit…and eventually, that shit becomes the REASON you go on. Everything you hate still comes down on you, again and again, and yet you keep going, because you need a reason to keep going because you can't stop and LIFE HASN'T GIVEN YOU ANY OTHER DAMN ONE EXCEPT THE ONE YOU HATE THE MOST!" Flammadea snarled. "Go out into life Danny. Seek out women who, though they recoil when you strike them, have a semi-happy gaze shining through their tears, a shine of happiness derived from the blow, the abuse, the hell, because humans NEED to be happy and if they can't find it they'll WARP things until part of them, no matter how terrible it is, MAKES them happy. Seek out ladies who go back to men who would kill them, because they think they deserve nothing less. Look at women who have reduced themselves to wasted sacks of flesh walking the street, performing sick acts for sicker men for a violent brute who beats them and abuses them and yet they keep doing it because life has taught them that this is all they will ever get, so they better get some happiness out of it. That's life Danny. Life is an unending, never-changing HELL. A hell that eventually becomes comfortable to you. And that, Danny, of all the atrocities your fucking species has inflicted on me, is the one I hate the most, the one that enrages me so much, the part that has been burned into my body, my soul, my VERY EXISTENCE! Give you my pain Danny? Kid…without my pain…I have nothing at all."

Danny had listened the entire time, and yet despite the whole rant, he couldn't believe what was occurring to him. Until the last two sentences.

Those, and the following mad laughter, a series of rapid chuckles Flammadea made as she brought her palm up to her face, finally made him realize something he'd never wanted to believe in…but now he had no choice as it was staring him right in the face.

Danny didn't want to believe anyone was completely gone, utterly and truly beyond any redemption at all…but listening to Flammadea's laugh, the strangely sweet laughter of a completely broken soul, he realized that as horrible as the concept was, and as great a blow it struck at his creed…it existed. Even though the battle with Flammadea seemed endless, even hopeless, Danny hadn't wanted to give up on the chance that he could somehow use some other way besides a sword to bring an end to the fighting, an end to the war. But he realized that even that was beyond his means. Fighting the battle for Flammadea wasn't endless or hopeless: it was pointless. She was too far gone to be saved, and she didn't want to be.

And finally, Danny understood just how Savior had grown so bitter, so cynical, so scornful of his so-called mission…and yet why he kept doing it despite how much he seemed to dislike and outright loathe the credo and the people he fought for with it. Because the only alternative was doing nothing…

Danny had nowhere near the reading experience of Savior, but there was a quote he could recall, from Einstein. Einstein was a true case of both sides in play: his theories had led to great advances in several sciences but had also allowed for the invention of atomic weapons. But the true heart of his morals had stemmed from something he had said once: 'The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.'

This was what happened when good men did nothing. This was the result of fear, ignorance, and apathy: a creature so tragic and yet so incredibly dangerous. Too dangerous to let exist, no matter what created her.

And as Flammadea lowered her arms, once again looking at Danny with something that resembled angry joy, Danny realized what he had to do. Despite her terrible past, which had driven her to this zealous madness and all consuming wrath…she had to be stopped.

Saving her had failed. Now he had to stop her.

And Flammadea, in her own twisted way, believed the exact same thing. Towards Danny that is: the boy had stupidly tried to help her, showing his utter worthlessness in never understanding, never even being capable of understanding what drove her, and it was long long long past due for him to pay for his latest sin and all his previous ones.

Flammadea snapped her hand to the side, as Danny saw the motion and got into a combat pose.

"But…since you want pain so badly…far be it from me to not do what I can to grant your request! After all, if I didn't have the power to resist, I'm sure you'd just beat and abuse what you wanted out of me anyway!" Flammadea laughed/shrieked.

Fire exploded up from around her, a whirling tornado of terrible heat, driving Danny back, as Flammadea laughed again, this time long and loud.

"So be it Danny!" Flammadea laughed. "You want pain? You want suffering? You want to burden yourself with hell?" Flammadea laughed. "I'LL GIVE YOU ALL THE HELL I'VE GOT TO SPARE!"

As she reached deep down within her, and fully opened up the door as far as it could go, calling upon her true power, all of it, to end this farce and finally bring about what she wanted so much: the end of Danny Phantom.

And then she began to grow.

"HOLY…!" Danny yelled, though there was nothing holy about it, as fire exploded into being around and then was immediately absorbed into Flammadea's mass, so quickly it was virtually invisible to the naked eye, hence the illusion that she was just growing, in and of itself. Before Danny could even begin to grasp what was happening she was already twenty feet tall.

It was about then that Danny realized that of all his options, standing still staring in shock and horror and disbelief probably wasn't the most advantageous, and with that realization green energy exploded on his hands and he lanced forward at Flammadea, swinging back a fist…

And slamming into some kind of energy barrier, throwing him backwards and up at high speed, and Flammadea laughed, a laugh that had grown stronger and deeper, as she continued to grow, the ground cracking under her feet as her form rose above the buildings and began reaching for the sky.

From her perch on a roof, far away, Sam's eyes were so wide they seemed about to pop from their sockets, as she watched Flammadea rise up in the distance, growing as large as the tallest building in Amity Park and beyond. Her mouth opened, but no words came, only random noises of utter incredulity.

And then she decided that maybe she better get off the roof. Hell, maybe she should get into the sewers.

Danny pretty much shared Sam's expression, as he recovered, shook his head, began heading back…and then stopped dead as he fully saw what was before him, looking up at Flammadea's gigantic form as her hair stopped just above the clouds. Danny's mouth opened and stayed open, as he looked upon the behemoth form of his foe, the true power of Flammadea, the Lord and Master of the Inferno.

Chuckling, the noise now sounding like thunder, Flammadea looked down on Danny's body.

"Oh my lord." Danny finally said.

"The Lord?" Flammadea laughed. "HE AIN'T GOT NOTHING ON ME!"

And she reared back her hand and slammed it down, much faster then Danny had expected, but then again, he was trying to apply normal scientific rules of mass and velocity to some things, normal scientific rules that had pretty much been chucked out the window a long time ago, and hence he was almost squashed flat before he gathered his senses and zipped to the side. Flammadea's fist smashed down on the ground below him, smashing four large stone buildings like they were made of Tinker Toys, and Danny, as he flew on, looking back at the eradication, was suddenly glad that he hadn't tried going intangible: for all he knew Flammadea had surrounded her body with the same shield that had kept him from leaving the office building, and he wouldn't have wanted to have been on the receiving end of that blow if that was the case.

Nor the following blow, as Flammadea laughed as she reared back up and then lifted her leg and thrust it out at Danny. Danny yelped and flew upward as Flammadea's foot smashed and crushed a whole street to nothing as it slammed down on one end and dragged along a bit before Flammadea stopped. Still laughing, Flammadea's eyes shone, as if she was delighted at what she had just thought of, and then her mouth opened and a mammoth blast of flame sprayed out. Danny zapped away and watched as the blast carved a huge line of annihilation across Amity Park, igniting whatever it didn't just knock over and vaporize. Flammadea's (still continuing) rain of fire, as mentioned, wasn't really setting the whole town ablaze, but Flammadea appeared to be making up for lost time.

"Come here LITTLE boy!" Flammadea bellowed, and her arm was clawing for him again. Danny yelped and zapped away as the hand flew down and smashed two more buildings into nothing.

"Aw man, where's the Power Rangers when you need them?" Danny cursed as he flew away from Flammadea…and then his eyes widened as she aimed her other, gigantic hand at him, and suddenly thousands of spears of fire were flying at him, shot from her football field sized palm, and Danny found himself again in a mad dodging game. As the fire spears reduced several more blocks of Amity Park behind Danny to flaming rubble, he flew up and around the wave of fiery javelins. Somehow, he made his way out of the top of the onslaught without being impaled or sliced to ribbons…

"Stop running!" Flammadea roared, and then concentrated beams of fire shot from her eyes at Danny. Once again, he managed to dodge, though one of the beams grazed his foot: that was enough to burn through his boot and liquefy the skin underneath. As the beams blasted into the clouds and disappeared, Danny yelled as he flew on, his mind reeling. How the hell could he win? How the hell could he fight back against something like that?

And then, as he completed turning around, he spied the hospital.

And he remembered.

And he knew how to fight back, as he turned back to face Flammadea. He had tried to save her, and she had thrown his mercy back in his face, violently repulsed his kindness because she had learned to accept her pain to feed her a cruel version of that sweet milk. Now…he had to stand. Stand and fight. And win!

"Oh, finally accepted the inevitable, have we?" Flammadea said as Danny suddenly stopped and then blasted at her. "Well then, look upon the face of your fate!"

Flammadea grabbed at Danny.

Danny dodged away from the hand and fired off a long stream of ectoshots, the spectral power slamming across Flammadea's body with a line of powerful blasts. For a moment, Danny had a brief flash of the movie _The Mummy_, specifically the part where Arnold Vosloo's villain formed a gigantic face from a sand cloud and attempted to bring down the plane-carried Brendan Fraiser. Fraiser's character had a machine gun mounted on the plane, which he'd turned on the sand cloud. Since he was shooting sand and nothing that actually felt pain though, the gun had no effect. Danny was getting that vibe, as his line of blasts only seemed to anger Flammadea, as she bellowed and stomped her foot at him. He dodged that, the impact shaking all of Amity Park, and then he flew backwards. Flammadea turned, and then, just like Godzilla, fire exploded from her mouth and blasted across Amity Park, reducing everything it struck to nothing as Flammadea tried to blast Danny. She missed, again, as Danny flew back up, looking at his massive foe in the distance, and wondering what in the hell he could do.

And then he had an idea.

"You are starting to irritate me, little bug!" Flammadea growled as she stomped across Amity Park, crushing anything she stepped on underfoot to nothing, as Danny flew towards her. She lashed out with a fist, missing and smashing more buildings, and then as Danny flew between her legs and then back up and away, she whirled around and sent off a huge barrage of fireballs and bombs. They exploded through the air and onto the ground, blasting apart even more of Amity Park, but Danny avoided all the explosions, as he flew up face to chest with Flammadea, and then, as he focused, a low growl coming from his throat, he brought up his right arm and slammed his left arm against it at the inner wrist so the two arms formed a perfect 90 degree angle, as green radiance suddenly glowed on his right arm.

Flammadea finished turning towards Danny, her massive body now facing the ghost teen as she looked at him with amusement.

"Oh what the hell is that?"

"CHHHHHHHHIYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Danny screamed, and then an energy blast fired out from the length of his forearm, a rectangular blast of power that streaked out towards Flammadea. Who couldn't have dodged it even if she thought she had to.

She never knew what hit her.

The blast struck her in the chest and suddenly green energy exploded across her entire torso, and her eyes went as wide as saucers as the energy shoved and then blasted her backwards. She shrieked as she stumbled back and then fell, smashing a good chunk of Amity Park's suburbs in the process.

Danny lowered his arms, breathing heavily, hoping…

Screaming her rage at being knocked down, Flammadea began shoving herself up, causing even more destruction.

"Ah dammit! That always worked for Ultraman!" Danny cursed, as he found himself back at Square 1. He had to think of something, fast! Because if he didn't…

"BURN!" Flammadea bellowed, as he held out a hand and her arm extended towards Danny. Danny's eyes widened and he dodged aside as the arm flew past. It struck the tallest skyscraper in Amity Park and snapped it in two like a matchstick, the building tumbling down like dominoes as Danny watched in horror. If he didn't do something fast, there wouldn't be an Amity Park left!

Flammadea was stomping towards him, her arm having retracted. He turned back, and then yelped as a foot stomped at him. He dodged out of the way and Flammadea, having already reduced what was below her to ruin, just succeeded in smashing another crater in the ground. Danny flew up at an angle, even as Flammadea's eyes followed him…and then more beams blasted from the giant optic orbs. Danny stopped and zapped to the side at the last moment: the beams flew off in the distance and struck the one of the peaks of the mountain range beyond the city. The entire top of the mountain was atomized into nothing, as Danny once again goggled at the utter destruction. This was insane! She could do so much damage, and yet he couldn't even annoy her! It was the Fenton-copter all over again: the target protected in the inside and the outside…

And then it hit him.

And then Flammadea tried to, as she swung her fist out and down, trying to smash Danny into the Earth and probably all the way to China. Danny dodged again, as he flew up, level with Flammadea's crazy/angry face. His only conceived solution was insane, but that was the name of the game here.

"If I can't hurt you now…" Danny said, as he drew back, concentrating. "Then I guess I'll have to perform an inside job!"

And he streaked towards Flammadea, her arms out as he gathered his power. He had remembered how the Fenton-copter had kept Sizzle safe with its armor and shield, and there was nothing Danny could do to get to his possessed mother. But this wasn't the case here. In this case, there was an obvious crack in the defense. The only problem was, he'd more likely then not get killed trying to exploit it.

Flammadea's eyes locked on the approaching Danny, and she smirked, and then her mouth widened and another gargantuan blast of fire flew out towards Danny.

Danny didn't dodge this time: he flew onward as he closed his eyes. The fire struck and enveloped him, but he did not stop flying, a green barrier around him trying to hold off the immense power of the attack as he flew on…and on…and into Flammadea's mouth, disappearing within the orifice.

Flammadea's mouth closed as she arched an eyebrow. What had just happened? She'd lost sight of Danny…had she finally vaporized the…

And then she felt it. While she had no organs or anything like a human body…she suddenly seemed to have the mother of all indigestions, as she looked down at her body…

Beams of green light began streaking forth from within her. Flammadea's eyes widened, as more beams appeared, and then she screamed as her whole body was blasted apart from within, her gigantic form shattered into thousands of strands of flame as Danny reappeared, finishing his own scream as the huge green energy field he had called up pulled back to his form and disappeared.

Danny slumped over, gasping for air as the wisps of flame flickered out. The flight through Flammadea's fire breath, down through her body, and then blowing her apart, had utterly exhausted him. He had nothing left, again, and he wondered if he should get down to the ground lest his power cut out in mid-air and leave him…

"AAIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Flammadea screamed as she lanced down from the sky. She was back to her 'normal' sized form, but that didn't make her blow any less powerful as she slammed her fist into Danny's face and sent him spiraling across the sky. She's been able to reconstitute herself after Danny had blown her into pieces, but what he had done had hurt, really hurt, not to mention she'd been foiled for seemingly the tenth zillionth time. Her anger raged through her, utterly in control, as she flew after Danny, shrieking in an ire that would have chilled a banshee. Danny, worn out after his previous move and unable to mount a defense, could only stop and turn to face Flammadea when she zapped in and slammed both her fists into his stomach. He doubled over, as Flammadea flew back and then rammed her knee into his gut, doubling him over her limb even more, as she slammed an elbow into the back of his head and then twisted her leg up to kick him in the face. Danny flew back, and Flammadea lashed out with a gigantic punch that smashed into Danny and sent him flying back towards the ground like a black and white asteroid.

Danny crashed through the roof of something, hit the floor, and slid for a few dozen feet before coming to a stop. He coughed as his vision blurred and then cleared, and he shook his head, trying to recover his senses, trying to think of another way to fight back…but he was just so tired…and her anger seemed endless, utterly endless…

And then, as Danny leaned up from his position and saw the rows of pews, he realized where he was. A glance behind him, revealing an alter and a cross, confirmed it. He was in a church.

Slowly, Danny got to his feet, wondering where Flammadea was…and even if he knew, if it did him any good. His eyes scanned the church, and then came back to the cross. It was a large one, a wood statue of Jesus attached to it, though with all the different religions and sub-religions Danny had no idea the exact denomination of the faith that worshipped here.

Danny stared at it for a bit. He was not religious, and he had no real opinions on God, Jesus, and all the usual that surrounded such things. But, as mentioned, he sometimes wondered what the Ghost Zone was, if it somehow tied to religion, if there was any truth in it…and if there was a God, why he allowed things like this to happen. Free will, supposedly: letting man make all his own choices, for better or for worse.

Danny was not a hypocritical type: he didn't really have much of a belief and he wasn't going to throw himself down on his knees and plead for aid in his battle. For whatever reason, he doubted anyone would answer. Mankind had made Flammadea, and now they had to answer for her.

Still…Danny couldn't help but look at the cross.

"…I just…want to do the right thing…" He whispered.

And then the church began to shake. But Danny knew this wasn't any divine intervention. Oh no. If anything, it was the opposite.

All the candles suddenly ignited, their wicks blazing much higher then the scraps of string would usually allow, and as Danny turned around, the shaking grew worse.

And then the stain glass windows started exploding, beginning with the ones near Danny and moving along to the back of the church, and as the final windows shattered the pews started erupting and exploding in flame, the wooden benches shattering in a straight line back towards Danny as he clenched his fists. The splintering, exploding pews finally reached him and finished blowing up around him, and behind him the cross caught fire, the wood representative of whom many believed was the son of a benevolent god burning with no apparent celestial protection.

Flammadea lowered herself through the roof: there was no falling wreckage: she simply reduced everything she touched to ash as she floated down. She looked upon Danny, and then around her, as if realizing where she was in the first time.

"The House of God." She said sarcastically. "You a believer, Danny boy? After all, God supposedly made man in his image. Hah! GREAT JOB!" Flammadea snorted. "You know, I bet the bible had it all wrong. Adam was the first creation, the so called highest being in the garden, you can bet that went straight to his head and he wanted more then he got. I bet he was the one who ate the apple and when he and Eve were kicked out of paradise he made sure everyone was told SHE was the one who ate it. Tempted by a serpent…hah. Great imagery, considering the ones who are really enamored by snakes, if you know what I mean." Flammadea said as she walked up through the burning pews. "Look at it all. The first murder, between brothers! You can bet that if Eve had daughters, that never would have happened! Women don't need to kill each other! After all, that's why they have men, don't they? To ensure their lives are as brief, and as brutish, as possible! And on top of that, we get blamed for every problem! Eve ate the apple and got humanity kicked out of paradise! Delilah cut Samson's hair! You hear about the Whore of Babylon, you never hear about the Violent Brute That Controlled The Whore of Babylon! Always women! Always evil! You know, if this so called god wants to always put us in the position of malificence, we might as well start living up to the role!" Flammadea snarled.

"You can't do this." Danny replied. His mind was a bit dazed: he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"What? Burn down a church? It's a building, kid. It commands no special protection. Much like your manhood doesn't, despite eons of it being treated as some kind of divine gift! Mankind, gods of earth! Women, their stepping stones! Well, we're sick of being stepped on."

"So this is your solution? To step harder? To act just like they supposedly do? To destroy everything in revenge of them destroying everything? WHAT KIND OF A SOLUTION IS THAT?" Danny screamed.

Flammadea smiled.

"Mine."

Danny's eyes narrowed.

"I can't let you do this. It's not right! It's terrible! It's pointless! It's…illegal!" Danny said, blanking once more on a good final word.

Flammadea laughed.

"Illegal?" She said. "Like forcing yourself on your eight year old daughter? Like sticking a pipe up your rear because two teens find your screams funny? Like being tied down and whipped and shit on and being told you're garbage? Like being beaten half to death because you brought in a dollar less then an amount that had never been named? Aren't those things illegal? AREN'T THEY? WELL THAT DIDN'T STOP THEM FROM HAPPENING TO ME! AND THINGS A THOUSAND TIMES WORSE!" Flammadea screamed. "Above all else, you will learn one thing Danny. I DO NOT ANSWER TO THE LAWS OF MAN."

Danny stared, and then he looked around again, just a bit, and as the church burned around him he returned his gaze to Flammadea, his eyes hard and his fists clenched.

"Then…I guess you'll have to answer to God." Danny replied.

Flammadea chuckled.

Danny never saw her uppercut, as Flammadea zapped across the remaining distance and smashed Danny out through the roof of the church. Flammadea followed him, leaving the burning building behind as she zapped after Danny, who was still floating in the air, momentarily frozen from the blow, and as he finally started recovering…

Flammadea's fist slammed across his face, and again, and again, punch after punch hammering into his face and chest, Danny immobilized in the assault, as Flammadea started adding kicks to the onslaught, hitting and hitting and hitting…

As she withdrew one arm from the attack and put it behind her, cupping her palm. A fireball ignited in her hand, the crimson red going to brilliant white…

As she finally spun and slammed a cracking roundhouse kick into Danny's chest, sending him flying back…

As the white of the fire in her hand darkened suddenly and became a brilliant blue, the hottest fire that could be, and as Danny stopped Flammadea smiled and slammed out her hand.

From the fireball a huge blast of blue fire erupted, flowing out towards Danny. His eyes widened in shock.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The blue fire consumed him and exploded, heat so intense it melted the tops of buildings a thousand feet away. The supernatural aspect of the flame once again saved Danny from being incinerated, but that was no comfort as his body streaked from the sky and went crashing down into a ruined street, making another deep crater in the ground from the impact.

Flammadea smiled again, as she held up her hand.

Fire once again ignited, but this time it didn't start growing brighter. It started growing darker, as the red flame went as black as pitch, the Soulsearer flame returning, and then growing outward as Flammadea formed a ball of it above her head, then a sphere, then a massive globe, and then even beyond that, the huge attack filling the sky above Amity Park.

Groaning, a pair of hands grabbed the edge of the crater as Danny tried to pull himself out…and then he saw the attack. He froze in utter terror.

Flammadea looked down upon the fallen Halfa, remember his last words to her in the church. She smirked again.

"You first."

And she hurled the ball down.

Danny saw the gigantic orb of Soulsearer flame descending, and he knew he had to get out of there, but the blue fire attack and impact had sapped his remaining strength and crossed all his wires: he couldn't tell which way was up and which way was down and left and right…but he had to get free, as he managed to untangle his thoughts enough to get airborne, trying to fly up and away…

Flammadea saw this, but she did not blink. Instead, she just pointed at her descending blast.

"This battle is over."

And the ball thrust down, going even faster, and Danny's eyes went as wide as saucers as all escape routes were cut off and the ball came down on him. He screamed, long and loud, as he vanished beneath the ball.

The explosion seemingly shook the planet, as the massive ball of Soulsearer contorted and then blasted an enormous column of pitch black flame into the air, a pillar fifty feet around that fired up and went straight through the cloud above Amity Park and beyond.

Up in the Watchtower, J'onn's own red eyes widened as a terrible black THING that surged up through the clouds suddenly filled the picture the satellite was beaming to him. J'onn recoiled away from the screen, as the black fire reared up, piercing out through the atmosphere and something still going despite there being no oxygen, the blast reaching up and completely filling the satellite screen before it went to snow, as the blast engulfed the satellite and blew it to bits before it faded away. The flaming space tool fell into the Earth's atmosphere, what was left of it eventually crashing into the Atlantic Ocean.

And back down on Earth, Flammadea lowered herself down near the ground as she looked at the aftermath of her grandest attack. She blinked.

And then, she started laughing again, the sound slowly building from a slight chuckle to an all out uncontrollable outburst, the sound of lunatic triumph.

"It's over. It's FINALLY OVER!" She shrieked/hooted, and then once again Flammadea laughed, the terrible noise reaching over the entire city as she gloried over the scattered atoms of Danny Phantom…

* * *

Slowly, J'onn returned back to the screen, staring at it, wondering what the hell had just happened. Nothing in the world could have caused that to happen…and that fit, because the attack had not been of this world, but of a world J'onn faintly remembered from bedtime stories told to him when he was a youngling and later seen parallels of in the religious teachings of the human race. 

There were many words for it, but J'onn picked the most simple.

It was from hell.

"Seven minutes remaining…"

* * *

"It's over! IT'S OVER!" Flammadea screamed, utterly out of control in her mad joy. 

And then the beam flew through the air, striking her in the back and drawing a short scream from her before she was frozen in a block of ice.

A block of ice that nearly eight different projectiles assaulted, consuming in a giant explosion, a barrage of firepower that went on for nearly ten seconds before it slackened.

The cloud swiftly cleared, revealing a very angry Flammadea, as she whirled to face her attacker.

Jack Fenton lowered his Ghost Bazooka.

"Not YET."


	19. Ignipotens: Hellfire and Brimstone

Chapter 19: Hellfire and Brimstone

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee."

Ezekiel 25:17 

"Hemingway once wrote, 'The world is a fine place, and worth fighting for.' I believe in the second part."

Detective Somerset, _Seven

* * *

_

_Evil…_

_…cannot exist without good…

* * *

_

Endgame. Last round. Down to the wire. Check and mate. Bottom of the Ninth. Golden Goal time. The world is watching.

_Vlad Masters' nose was almost touching the crystal orb on which he had observed everything since he removed himself from the proceedings. How he had gotten this close to the orb, like a child watching television, he did not know or care: he is utterly absorbed in all he has seen. Danny's second return, his raging battle against Flammadea in which he should have perished a thousand times over and yet did not until now, seemingly, finally, and just when Vlad had finally allowed himself to relax and decide that everything was well again, here came something even worse then the inklings that had plagued Vlad for the past few dozen minutes, the fact that the last stand was being made by someone so inappropriate. Even the fact that he was surely doomed did not bring comfort to the fact that here was the last one you'd expect, of all times and above all NOW…_

_The bar was utterly silent: the ghosts had long stopped making bets, arguing, making comments, speaking among themselves, or making any noise at all. They cannot, not with what they had witnessed. It had been as if the reality they had grown to accept had been yanked out from under them, and after so long in that confusion, not knowing which way was up any more, when the reality they knew had seemingly reasserted itself and when things seemed stable again…here came something out of left field. None of the ghosts knew what to say, so they just watched, and waited. Perhaps some might have pondered the obvious, but the obvious had held no sway at all in this little drama that was ending its last act, and by now the ghosts had accepted the possibility that anything could happen…_

_J'onn J'onzz was furiously trying to re-position another satellite above Amity Park, needing the device to properly aim the fusion cannon shot if it indeed became necessary, and needing it to see in close as well. In his current situation, with his original satellite shattered by an eruption of pure evil masquerading as fire, he could only see the Earth itself, his adoptive home, not Mars, filled with strangeness and inconsistencies and outright horrors the Martian people had never conceived of, and yet something J'onn wished to protect, something he would have gone down to protect at this very moment if he could, but as it had been said, his species was useless in the face of fire, for good reason, and in the horrible timing such events had, there was no one on the Watchtower that could be sent down that could do more then present themselves as new targets for the unholy wrath J'onn only vaguely knows. And he knew that there were those who were willing. But he would not senselessly sacrifice teammates, not now. So all he could do was type on his control panel and hope that those who had been part of the situation could settle it before it was forcibly settled for him, and them…_

_And around the world…there were those who were aware of the situation, in varying degrees. Several governments had begun to notice the strange atmospheric anomaly that had appeared above the United States of America. Other pyrokinetics, on both sides of the moral compass, sensed strange feelings within their bodies: some, like the females known as Fire, Firebrand, Spitfire, and Firecracker (notice a theme?), wondered if they were experiencing some kind of vacillation in their forms that was their power's equivalent to PMS: others, like the female Volcana and the mysterious Brimstone, just noticed it and dismissed it as some strange quirk of their abilities. Minor spellcasters and magicians noted ripples and fluctuations in several mystical fields, uncertain of just what these oddities foretold. Indeed, the one who knew the most was one who knew the least, in magickal abilities anyway: Llarenes Morath, a minor sorceress specializing in bad luck, known to the world mostly as Jinx, a member of the Troika, the trio of teenagers from the troublesome H.I.V.E organization…a teenager who has been struggling with unresolved feelings for some time towards a certain man, a man that had gone to Amity Park for this mission and found himself trapped in a circle of hell. She originally cast the spell to know what the man known as Cyborg was doing, perhaps to help sort out her emotions, and yet she had found herself witnessing, in bits and pieces, a battle that could decide the fate of the world. It both scared her in its power and intensity and humbled her in the fact that Cyborg had gone to face such danger, with such little help. Tough moral questions of whether she could ever do something like that, at least not without a great deal of backup were for the moment unconsidered: she was far too afraid that she had seen the last of the metal teenager. But she did not know for sure, so she sat in her room, within the circle of power she made, her eyes closed, as images randomly flashed to her like a distorted picture show from hell, and waited to see if Cyborg, or anyone else, would live or die._

_And somewhere else, in a T-shaped tower…Robin had an odd feeling of foreboding, like he was missing out on something. Perhaps he should hail Noel and see what was going on…_

_Yes, in more then a few ways, the world was watching…_

So what are YOU doing here, Jack Fenton?

A question that no one could answer, not even Jack Fenton himself, if he had been actually asked. At least, he could not give a satisfying, settled answer, but then again, that had been the case for most of Jack Fenton's life.

He had been fascinated by ghosts almost from the moment he could comprehend the world, though he could not recall what it was, a book, perhaps a movie or TV show, or maybe even a youth-forgotten encounter with the supernatural, that had sparked the interest/obsession that had grown to define his life. But he could remember the first time someone shot it down: he had been six, and he had been certain a ghost lived in the arts closet of his kindergarten class. His teacher, a sour faced female who probably shouldn't have been teaching young children, for a variety of reasons that were unimportant and irrelevant now, had sternly informed him that there were no such things as ghosts, and that the missing crayons had other, more normal explanations. When he had persisted, she had nicely but firmly told him to shut up.

(On a side note, Jack had returned to the school when he was 23 to investigate more fully, only to find the building had been torn down when he had been occupied with other events in his life. A pity…)

She wouldn't be the first one to tell him that he was a fool, that ghosts didn't exist, that he maybe even mildly insane for his viewpoint, but Jack had never wavered in his belief. Most people considered, on top of the ghost thing, for him to be not all that bright, and he had to admit, he tended to focus on such a narrow spectrum of things that it could come off that he was a dunce, though he never told anyone about that fact: those who cared for him didn't need to know and he could care less about those who didn't care for him. But Jack knew that in modern times, it was easy to lose faith in things you once held important and seize on trivial matters like they were the greatest quests in life. Jack had his belief, and his quest: he would find ghosts, if necessary hunt them and take them down (he expected that to be the primary need) and then study them. He had been blessed with a mate who shared his passion, and a family he was sure would come around eventually, and he never wavered. Oh sure, there had been a few casualties (Vladdie came to mind. But Jack was sure that he could win him back eventually. After all, true friendship never died!), but none that had ever made him question if his life was indeed a waste of time.

No matter how many people told him ghosts didn't exist. Even though he hadn't had any hard proof for nearly his entire life. Even when his own DAUGHTER was lecturing him from her psyche texts and telling him he was mentally damaging her and his son. Many men would have had doubts, maybe even crises of faith, but Jack held fast to what he believed. He built the Fenton Ghost Portal, the Fenton Thermos, and everything else alongside Maddie with the surefire belief that one day his perspective would be realized as true.

And then, it had happened. He'd finally seen a real ghost (never realizing it was his own son), and it had snowballed from there, eventually climaxing in the massive ghost attack on Amity Park. It seemed like everything had finally come up roses for Jack Fenton. Now everyone shared his belief in ghosts, and he and Maddie had credibility, not to mention a clear target: the evil ghost boy Inviso-Bill.

And then, much like now…it had all gone to hell.

The ruckus raised by the ghost attack had attracted the attention of some so-called experts…but Jack knew what they were from the moment he met them: elitists. They were not believers like him: they were arrogant smarmy craven opportunists who demonstrated their so-called expertise by tearing down the foundations of everyone else who had an opinion that was not theirs, distorting the truth and the studies until Jack's claims, the things he had witnessed with his own eyes, things OTHERS had seen, looked like mad, foolish obsessions…much like everyone had always claimed them to be.

The people of Amity Park didn't have a chance: raised to believe in a reality that had vanished around them, and hardly any of them possessing the mental acumen to adapt to that collapse, they had quickly seized on the 'experts' studies and conclusions, that there had been no ghosts, it had been some kind of gas leak, or bad food, or a bad dream they had all somehow shared. Hell, most of them would have probably accepted the possibility it was all an illusion beamed into their head by a satellite from space…because after all, as ludicrous as that was, it seemed more feasible then believing ghosts existed, didn't it?

But Jack Fenton refused to be humiliated, and he refused to let his views be compromised, even if all his support had quickly abandoned him. He had put on a happy face for the experts while he and Maddie had quietly schemed to get them out of town as soon as possible, a relatively easy task: snobs like them always saw small cities as below them, overflowing with hicks, the equivalent of reading See Spot Run when they had to be reading the latest overlarge tomb of quantum physics theories, because they were intellectual giants and had to look it for the world…in any case, Jack had gotten rid of them. Deciding that devoting his energy to re-convincing the townfolk that they had indeed seen ghosts would be a waste of time, he and Maddie had thrown themselves into the last thing they believed in: the capture of the evil ghost Inviso-bill. They would do their job, the town could either fall in line or keep their heads buried in the sand. Most preferred the latter. It was what they did best. Well, let them believe what they wanted. Jack has his own beliefs.

And then…even they started to be challenged.

Oh sure, Inviso-bill didn't disappoint in his showing up and causing trouble…until Jazz had pointed out several strange coincidences. Inviso-bill never showed up to cause trouble by himself: there was ALWAYS something else around, some other kind of ghost or spirit. Jack had theorized that Inviso-bill had many ghost partners…and then Jazz had pointed out that if they were all Inviso-bill's partners, why was he always fighting with them? Jack had no answer to that, and surprisingly, neither did Maddie, who was even more determined to capture Inviso-bill then he was. Jazz had suggested that maybe they had read Inviso-bill wrong. Jack and Maddie had scoffed at that: look at the proof! He was always there when there was trouble, causing property damage and…getting in the way to prevent humans from being hurt if they came into the line of fire. And…never coming after Jack or Maddie: in fact he seemed to try and avoid them, and considering how much trouble they gave him, Jack would expect some kind of counterattack on their selves, which never came: the worst he would do would be to distract them or disarm them. And…doing other things that clashed with the whole "evil ghost boy" label. In fact, when Jack took several tapes and compared Inviso-bill's exploits…there wasn't much of an evil vibe at all. More of…the opposite.

Jack hadn't completely changed his opinions though: ghosts _were_ inhuman creatures not of this world, after all. Inviso-bill could just be misjudged…or he could be planning some grand Machiavellian scheme that had ensnared Jazz. But he never got any readings of evil ghost energy from his daughter, so if she was indeed being controlled by something, it was beyond his ability to read, and he knew something like that was impossible. Jazz's opinions were her own, and it appeared they might even be accurate.

Even so, he kept on his toes. Just because he held strong onto his views didn't mean he was a blind zealot. He and Maddie had dialed down their aggression towards Inviso-bill, regarding him more with wariness then hostility. They had even stopped referring to him as Inviso-bill, on the grounds that Jazz didn't think he looked like a Bill, instead referring to him as "that white haired ghost/kid". But Jack never stopped being cautious: the second Inviso-bill/White haired ghost kid who Jack and Maddie really needed to think of a new name for showed his true colors (hence proving he had been deceiving them all along), Maddie and he would take him down, once and for all.

But that never happened.

Instead, something else had come to Amity Park. Something so angry and violent and vengeful that even now Jack Fenton could barely comprehend it. Something that made Inviso-bill look like a choirboy…an opinion that Jack Fenton had actually adapted. It had taken him some time to wake up after his vehicle had crashed, and even longer to flip the Fenton RV back on it's side…a task made considerably more difficult then it already was due to the fact that his town was being blasted apart around him. How Jack Fenton had escaped being barbequed by the falling fireballs, wayward fire blasts, the endless explosions and collapsing buildings, and not to mention the fire behemoth that had treated Amity Park like its own personal Tokyo, he didn't know. But he had. In the process, he'd managed to get the Fenton RV, via chains and built in jacks, back on its wheels. Maddie and Jazz were inside, in special "protection" capsules that were actually part of an escape system that Jack hadn't fully activated. The special metal the Fentons had acquired several months ago had gone on two places: the armor for the now gone F.U.M.B.L.E and as the shielding in the capsules. It would take a few hundred pounds of TNT to rupture them. As for why Jack Fenton hadn't completed the escape procedure and ejected the capsules, he didn't trust that they wouldn't end up beneath a collapsed building or in another buried-alive situation, considering the state of ruin around him. And he didn't have time to drive out of town to put them in a safe place. So in the Fenton RV they were, his wife and daughter's blank expressions still fresh in Jack's mind, their souls stolen by a force that was malevolent beyond Jack's wildest nightmares.

And Inviso-bill had fought her. For a town that he owed nothing, for people who at first feared him and then denied him, he'd fought, fought with more fury and determination then anything Jack had ever seen. Even against a power that kept proving itself his superior, he never backed down, not in the slightest. He had fought all the way to the bitter end.

What are you doing here, Jack Fenton?

Maybe Jack couldn't answer that question, but he knew the answer to another. He had to stop this psychotic fire spirit. Not just because it was his life's quest, to seek out ghosts and battle them if it came to it…but also because he owed it to the white haired ghost. No matter his previous motivations, in the end Inviso-bill, or whatever his name was, had displayed a nobility so shining that even Maddie wouldn't have been able to ignore it. He'd died for Amity Park, fighting all the way down…and now no one was left to stop this fire spirit. No one except him.

And he'd tried. He'd activated every weapon on the Fenton RV and emptied all their power cells, projectile ammo, or whatever they used into the fire spirit, while Jack had jumped out with the Fenton Bazooka, newly modified to fire powerful spectral harming blasts as well as open up holes to the Ghost Zone (and in the heat of the moment, why Jack Fenton didn't try that feature was lost to time. Perhaps he felt it wouldn't work). He fired until the Bazooka had overheated and he'd had to stop to let it cool, watching the cloud of smoke…a smoke cloud that had produced the fire spirit, not harmed in the slightest…and looking mad as hell that its battle for supremacy had not yet ended.

And if the ghost could defeat four members of the world famous Teen Titans, and then overcome such a powerful will as the one the white haired ghost had demonstrated, and then take all those shots in the back, after all the effort needed and expended for its previous two victories, and come out unharmed…then that interrupted ending seemed destined to be very short.

Jack Fenton was afraid. But he did not let the fear control him. Whatever people might say of him…he was not a coward.

Though, as Flammadea looked down upon Jack Fenton with furious eyes, not believing that A) This idiot was the last stand, and B) He'd actually shot her and hurt her a bit, and C) She STILL hadn't claimed total victory…he might soon not be anything at all.

"…You are under arrest for grand assault, massive property damage, and attempted genocide! Come peacefully!" Jack Fenton found himself saying, as he brought the Bazooka back up.

His words reached Flammadea…and her anger was replaced with amusement at the (to her) preposterous demand. Who did he think she was?

Well, she'd show him. One last spot of fun before she got down to the serious business of scouring the world of the male sex.

"Hmmm…let me think…" Flammadea said. "Um…no."

And Flammadea zapped down towards Jack.

Jack didn't blink: he hadn't expected surrender. Unfortunately, the Fenton RV didn't have any more ordnance to be utilized, but Jack was still loaded for bear…though in truth he'd rather be facing A bear, as Flammadea blasted down towards him, even as he lined her up and squeezed the trigger. A blast of green energy flew at Flammadea.

With a short, mocking laugh, she dodged it with ease. If she was trying to discourage Jack, he didn't show it, as he resighted her and fired again. Flammadea again dodged effortlessly, starting to draw in close. Jack aimed and fired, and missed again. Laughing, Flammadea held out her arm as she began forming a flame weapon, even as she finally drew close to the ground, and Jack Fenton…

Dropped the Bazooka, even as he showed scary grace for a man his size as he darted to the size, reaching behind him. Flammadea, still in a headlong downward charge, barely managed to stop before she hit the ground.

As Jack pulled the Fenton Ghost Fisher from behind his back, playing out the line, and even as Flammadea started to turn towards her so-called opponent, he swung it out in a wide horizontal swing. The white line flew perfectly, as it streamed out and wrapped around Flammadea, the silver cord completely entangling her before she realized just what had happened. That was the cost of not taking an opponent seriously: he could spring things on you that you didn't realize the full extent of until it was too late.

And Flammadea found herself suddenly tied up, bound…by a MALE…

Her rage came roaring back, as Flammadea's noise of surprise turned into a howling shriek of fury as she tried to break the line. But the Fenton Ghost Fisher had been well designed: its cable was unbreakable and inescapable to ghosts…

But then again…Flammadea had gone far beyond a normal ghost…

The line snapped/disintegrated after several seconds of Flammadea exerting her power and her rage against it, her arms being freed with another scream, as Flammadea looked for the man who had DARED imprison her when she should have been forever beyond such a possibility ever again…

And found that he hadn't gone far. In fact, he was standing still. He probably had to, to make sure the last of the armor that was appearing over him came on right.

"What the…!"

Jack fired the Fenton Ghost Peeler, and Flammadea screamed as it struck her, and then her body was suddenly ripped apart, her features disappearing as fire was stripped off her like it was an old coat of paint, her body being ripped into a mass of twisting fire strands…

That flared up and swiftly reformed into Flammadea in a second. She did not look happy.

"That hurt…" She growled. "IT HURT!"

"Oh dear." Jack said within the suit. The bad news was, the suit severely limited his movement, which would probably be a bad thing in regards to the fairly large white blast of fire that Flammadea was now shooting at him. The worse news was it would take several more seconds for the armor to completely retract back into the Peeler (that was a curse of having such a large frame), which was several seconds he didn't have.

The good news was, Jack Fenton always had a back door for problems. In this case, literally, as the back of his armor snapped open and Jack stepped out of the suit like he was a snake discarding its skin. He was in mid-leap away from the discarded armor where the fireball blew the Fenton Peeler suit into something more resembling burnt sparkly confetti, but he wasn't thinking of that, as he landed, rolled, and sprang back to his feet. The fire spirit wasn't slowing down, and she was relentless. So he had to be even more so.

Flammadea was turning to face her foe (he had escaped, that she wasn't surprised at, considering the sheer luck his son had, the Irish had had nothing on that bastard boy…) as Jack unhooked something from his belt and threw it at her. It exploded with a bang/pop a few feet from her, as supercompressed goo, the same that made up the Fenton Ghost Glob weapon on the gone Fenton-copter, surged at her, trying to engulf her in its sticky folds.

Flammadea glanced at it, and with a brief flash, the blueish-green color of the ooze turned to black and then disintegrated into wet ash. Far too easy. She was getting bored: time to wrap this up.

Jack wasn't about to be treated like a present though: as Flammadea started for him, he reached behind him again and yanked out the Fenton Ghost Wide Shot, a special one shot cannon that was designed to thwart the possibility of the ghost dodging by firing out an extremely wide blast (which required a lot of power, and hence there was only one shot). Jack didn't have to worry about Flammadea dodging it…not like it mattered: the wide blast didn't even slow her down, as it slammed into her and petered out without even stopping her forward momentum. Jack was already forgetting that weapon as he moved onto the next, drawing twin pistol-like weapons from his sides and opening fire. Flammadea took about fourteen shots before she waved a hand at the weapons and ultra-fast needles of fire tore them from Jack's hands. Flammadea was right in close now: she could see the sweat starting to bead on Jack's face…as he pulled the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick from a leg sheath and swung at Flammadea's head in a downward swing. As you might have guessed, a wooden baseball bat (with the word Fenton on it!) wasn't the best weapon to use on a fire being. Left with only a small part of the sheath after the initial blow, Jack dropped it as he stumbled back, grabbing for his belt. Flammadea was too busy being amused with the whole "hitting fire with wood" situation to stop him from pulling out another grenade and throwing it at her. Thick smoke exploded out from the device, obscuring Jack from Flammadea. She chuckled and utilized a heat trick to call up a windy gust to blow the smoke away.

"Do you really thing you can run…"

And then a metal fist swung from the smoke.

"WHO SAID I WAS RUNNING!"

The Fenton Ghost Glove slammed into Flammadea, sending her flying backwards as she had been completely unprepared for it. Flammadea hit the ground, in utter disbelief, and then her eyes widened as Jack Fenton was in the air, coming down towards her. She turned into a fire stream and flowed away from the blow as it came down on the ground, punching yet another hole in Amity Park's extremely battered streets (and that extremely battered state might have had more to do with the creation of the hole then Jack Fenton's actual strength). Flammadea reformed and looked at Jack, who has his dukes up like a classic 30's boxer.

"Come on! You want to destroy this town? You go through me!" Jack snapped.

He really should have stopped talking. His taunts and demands tended to make Flammadea amused, interrupting her anger. And her anger might have guaranteed him a quick death. Her amusement on the other hand…

"Oh?"

Jack Fenton suddenly found his hands burning, and he yelled and reared back as his Ghost Gloves heated up, glowing red on the outside. Jack managed to yank his hands out before little more then patchwork first-degree burns could result. As his melting gauntlets fell before him, Flammadea chuckled.

"You suffer Jack Fenton." She said. "Suffer from unwarranted delusions of grandeur."

And she fired twin fireballs from her eyes. Not AT him though, at the ground before him, the explosion sending him tumbling back like a rag doll. Flammadea sighed in the way people do when they realize a good time is coming to an end and they don't want it to, but it must.

Jack sat up from where he was, shaking his head with a mild groan. Those gloves had been his last offensive weapon, and now all he had…was the Fenton Bazooka lying a few feet from him. Jack took another second to recover and then dove for the weapon, rolling up and snatching it at the same time, the Fenton RV looming behind him again as he aimed at Flammadea, who had started for him once more. She didn't much seem to care he had retrieved something that could mount another offensive. That should have been an indication.

Not for Jack Fenton.

He fired. The green blast flew out and struck Flammadea, her form briefly vanishing in the explosion and then returning to sight as she continued walking on from where she had been blasted.

Jack fired again. The blast flew true, but once again had no effect. Jack refused to relent. Explosion after explosion erupted on the ground as Flammadea was shot but not stopped, as she got closer and closer to Jack.

She was five feet from him when Jack finally panicked, just a bit, and dropped his weapon's barrel down a tad as he reached to a dial on his bazooka, grabbing the power switch and turning it up as far as he could, past all the safety protocols, right into the red, and as he got the gun back up and straight Flammadea was right in front of him.

It was a good thing that Jack had a large frame and that the Bazooka had no kickback: the resulting blast/explosion that came when he shot Flammadea at point blank range would have tossed him ass over elbows backwards otherwise. The high power blast caused the Bazooka to overheat again, and unable to hold it, Jack dropped it to his side, coughing on the dust cloud his weapon had kicked up…

As it blew away, revealing an unmarred Flammadea.

Jack gaped at her.

"If you honestly thought that would work…" Flammadea said. "You haven't been reading the story close enough."

Flammadea's backhand was as light as she could make it: it still threw Jack backwards like he'd been hit by an 18-wheeler, not to mention the fact it burned a hole in his outfit and seared his chest. His backwards trip stopped just before he struck the Fenton RV, and he tried to recover, as Flammadea smirked again and held her hand out to her side. She'd had enough. Time to burn and then turn, to the task of more burning anyway, as white fire erupted on her hand. Jack managed to get up.

And Flammadea lanced at him. She wanted to see the look in his eyes just before she vaporized him.

She thrust back her hand.

As Jack yanked his last device from his belt and held it out.

It rather looked like the Fenton Ghost Incapacitator, except it was bulkier and didn't have as clear of a 'weapon' look to it. Because it wasn't a weapon. It was a defense mechanism.

And as Flammadea thrust out her hand to fire, Jack activated it.

As Flammadea found herself firing her blast right into a mini version of the shield that had surrounded the Fenton-copter, protecting it from Danny's ectoblasts among other things. After all, chances were the Fentons had started small and worked their way up when designing such a shield, right?

But what Jack Fenton had was only a prototype. As such, the incredible blast Flammadea directed at it blew it out immediately, and didn't even block all the power behind the shot, as Jack was thrown backwards again, against the side of the Fenton RV, the back of his skull slamming against the metal as strange colors exploded in his vision.

But it worked well enough to deliver the nastiest effect of the shield.

Whatever was fired into it…was returned. Threefold.

The backlash sent Flammadea into the sky like she'd been shot out of a cannon, out of control. She only managed to regain herself when she was a few hundred feet away and several stories above the ground.

Jack tried to regain his senses, even as part of him wondered why. It was over. He was out of any and all weapons. And he hadn't even bothered Flammadea.

In a physical sense anyway. Emotionally…

"YOU…" She hissed, once again enraged. "YOU….YOU BASTARD!"

And Flammadea thrust her hands out before her. Fire exploded between her palms, going from red to white to blue within a second. She'd had enough of Amity Park. With this blast, she'd turn it, and the last man standing, into nothingness.

* * *

Tucker Foley was torn. He wasn't sure if he should be grateful if he was alive, or curse the fact that he wasn't dead. 

The Titans had given him good protection in their hastily constructed rock shield, but not enough to completely guard against the Armageddon that had erupted from the final war between the Titans and Danny and the fire spirit now called Flammadea. Eventually, his rock fortress had been battered open by something or other (fortunately Tucker had not been battered with it), and upon deciding that staying put might not be a good idea in a now halfway knocked down mini-fortress, he had pushed his way out…

And found Amity Park in ruins. It seemed like every second building had been knocked down, fires were burning everywhere, and the Titans and Danny were nowhere in sight. What had happened? He'd been awake for nearly twenty minutes (most of them spent in the rock stronghold the Titans had made for him) and he still didn't know. The last thing he remembered before everything had gone black was a horrible voice saying "Wrong" and then…

Hell.

He didn't know what to do, where to go, what to think. So he just pressed on, hoping a building didn't fall on him or the street didn't collapse under him or the fireballs raining down on his ruined city didn't land on him or he didn't attract the attention of something bad who would want to finish the job of whatever had been done to him that had called for him to be placed in that rock prison for his own assumed safety…

So you can't blame him for not expecting anything good.

"Tucker?"

Considering all the noise Tucker had been hearing beforehand, it was amazing there was now enough quiet for Tucker to hear the hesitant voice. He glanced to the side…and to his utter amazement, saw Samantha Manson crawling around a pile of wreckage half blocking an alleyway.

"Sam?" He said incredulously.

"Tuck…you're ok…but…" Samantha said, and then realized that if Tucker wasn't hideously burned, the Titans had probably fixed him up, the healer Raven anyway, and since he seemed more shocked to see her then scared, maybe it would be better not to tell him that Sizzle/Flammadea had used him, through Sam as a host, to do her best impression of a wicker man.

"You're ok!" She interrupted/finished. Tucker didn't pick up on the subtle stop: thank god for some small favors.

"Sam…I mean…what happened?" Tucker said, as he looked around on the ruined street.

"Sizzle did. She…oh geez, so much…" Sam said, as she stumbled towards Tucker (noting how strange he looked without his beret), and then she tripped and stumbled forward. Good old Tucker was quick on his reaction time though, and caught her.

"Where's Danny?" She asked, and coughed.

"I…I don't know." Tucker said.

And then motion caught his eyes.

Normally, tall buildings would have blocked the sight, but Amity Park didn't have many tall buildings left. So Tucker got a clear view as Flammadea completed her trip through the sky, courtesy of Jack's mini shield device…and a clear view of her violent reaction, as she began to form her city destroying blast, which had already grown bigger then her. Tucker gulped, as his stomach and heart suddenly filled with ice.

"Uh…Sam…" He whimpered. "We better go."

Sam did not reply. And considering he was still holding her up somewhat, that alarmed him.

"Sam…SAM!" Tucker snapped/whispered as the fireball grew. "We have to go! Sam!"

No answer. Sam seemed to be staring into space…except from the look he could get from his angle, she didn't seem out of it…just…distracted or something…

"SAM!"

"Look." She said.

Tucker stared at Sam, and then looked back at Flammadea. Ok, she was forming a fire blast and…Sam wasn't looking at that.

And as Tucker's eyes, distracted, perhaps expectedly, by Flammadea's temper tantrum, came onto the view that had frozen Sam…he suddenly realized he didn't have to run any more.

* * *

Flammadea couldn't see anything except, in a metaphysical sense, the divine anticipation within her: this city below her may have provided her with her ticket out of the Ghost Zone, and eventually her recently obtained godhood, but it had also been the source of immense frustration for her: too much not going her way, not to mention too much of being reminded of terrible things that lurked in the blackness of her past. It had left her with an overall sour taste in her mouth. But that would all be over within seconds: the fireball before her, now over twice her size, would make the previous crater she had blasted in the city look like a pothole. Good riddance to bad rubbish. 

With a sharp, quick laugh, she finished forming her blast and prepared to throw it. Her motion to do so involved her swinging her arms back above her at a rough forty-five degree angle. The motion also caused her peripheral vision to swing to the side as well.

And that was what caused her to see it out of the corner of her eye.

She froze in mid-throw.

Flammadea blinked, and then, sure she had to be seeing things, turned her head more to fully take in the fleeting image she had seen at the edge of her vision, certain that it would disappear.

It did not.

The fireball above Flammadea shimmered and then collapsed in on itself, vanishing as Flammadea completely turned her body to face what she had seen, her eyes and expression consumed in numb shock.

Danny Phantom floated there, a hundred or so feet away. His outfit had by now been reduced to a state that could be described as a step above rags, thin tendrils of ripped, wispy black material fluttering around him in the slight breeze. Exposed skin showed angry red burns, including a burn that was across the entire right vertical part of his face. But these injuries did not make up for the fact that he should have been free floating ash, not a slightly singed physical form. But yet there he floated, all limbs attached, his hands at his side, his fists loosely clenched, his white hair shimmering above him as his face showed a look of deep angry intensity.

All his previous escapes, Danny could have explained. Either an outside force had intervened, or he had managed to combine his powers with luck in order to slip from the jaws of death. But the last time had seemed truly hopeless. He had no power left, no allies left to him until it was too late, no escape from the deadly Soulsearer flame, the fire that would supposedly destroy ectoplasm in all its forms. And he had escaped death too often already. It was quite clear that the Grim Reaper had designs on Daniel Fenton, and it had seemingly, finally, gotten what it wanted.

But Danny had refused it.

In the end, that had been all. As the Soulsearer had come down, Danny had indeed experienced the phenomenon of watching his life flash before his eyes…and he'd relived everything Sizzle and Flammadea had done to him. And chief among those images were of the people he cared about. All the suffering she had caused…not to him, but to those around him. And what she would do with no one to stop her.

And he knew then he could not die. Even if death seemed certain and inescapable.

He refused to.

Many had attempted to stand death down, but death could rarely be defied. After all, it was inevitable.

And maybe it was…but Danny had decided that that inevitably would come later.

BUT. NOT. NOW.

As the Soulsearer had come down…

In the farthest reaches of Danny's mind, even as he screamed his defiance, in a memory that was already fading into nothingness, Danny could have sworn, as everything went to white, that he had seen…something.

And even if he had seen something…he would have never understood it…

For what he had seen was seemingly a dusky skinned gothic woman, her skin as pale as the moon, her hair as black as midnight, wearing casual black jeans, a black shirt, and a black suede jacket, a golden ankh hanging around her neck, looking at him…and then shrugging her shoulders.

"If you insist, kid."

And then he'd found himself back in the reality he knew, at the bottom of a large crater, his body once again wracked with pain…but the pain quickly faded, as Danny realized that somehow…he was alive.

And with that feeling…came the determination that now coursed through him. If he had escaped Death's grasp, or been allowed to leave it through some manipulation of power…then his quest was clear. Oh, it wasn't like it had been vague before, but now it was crystal within Danny's mind.

He had tried so hard to do what he thought was the right thing. He had tried to be the hero. He had tried to hold up the world and not shrug.

But now he knew…that there was only one way this could ever end. And now, more then ever, no matter how much more power Flammadea seemed to have then him, no matter how hopeless it seemed…Danny would end it. Even if it cost him everything.

But it had to end.

And that reality was what shone out from his face, as he looked at Flammadea, not speaking, not feeling a need to, not knowing what to do at the moment but knowing what had to be done.

And Flammadea looked back, for the first time at a complete loss. All the other times, all the previous certain deaths, she could have accepted a reason for their failing. They may have all SEEMED certain, but nothing WAS certain. But her last time…it had been certain. Supreme. Absolute. Death herself could not have delivered as perfect a finishing blow.

And yet…here the boy was. Again. Alive.

And for the first time…Flammadea began to have doubts about something. Doubts as if she had truly escaped death as it was usually known. Wondering if all this time…if her quest for freedom and her revelry back in the world of the living was in fact part of a grand punishment for her so-called sins. Instead of burning in traditional hellfire and brimstone, she was offered what she wanted most of all, and given it…and yet for all she accomplished she never seemed to accomplish anything. It was her hell: confronted by a manifestation of the sex she loathed so much, one that seemed immortal, unstoppable…

…No. She was being foolish. The boy must have been saved by one of the Titans: she may have blown them away but they'd demonstrated a resistance to being blown up before. That Raven girl perhaps? She looked around to see if any of the Titans had shown up around her as well.

No…apparently not. If a Titan had saved Danny, it must have been in a last gasp effort, counting on Danny to do the actual fighting. Flammadea smirked. What a waste.

Well, for all her desire for her battle to end, she hadn't much cottoned to the last part of the battle being against Jack Fenton. That was like ending a movie with the protagonist fighting the goofy comic relief rather then the main bad guy.

Well…she had said the only way she would know if Danny Phantom was dead was if she had ripped his heart from his chest and ate it.

And if that didn't stop him…

"Heh." Flammadea said, looking at Danny. "Heh heh heh heh heh…you know kid, I give up. You ARE immortal."

Danny didn't reply, but his fists clenched tighter.

"Well boy, I guess I must salute you. For all my efforts, there you stand…or float." Flammadea chuckled. "But since you insist so much on surviving, well…I guess I'll just have to adapt. You might be everlasting…but somehow I doubt all those fools that cling to you are."

Danny's eyes flashed green. Flammadea didn't notice.

"So I guess, instead of killing you…I'll just have to kill them. Heh. I can live with that. In a way, it'll be even more fun. I can do a different thing with each one. I can turn them all against you in futile desire to escape the agonies I will bring against them. Instead of dying for your sins, you can live with them forever. Well done kid. Well done." Flammadea mocked.

One of Danny's gloves had been shredded. On that hand, his knuckles went white.

"So come on boy! Let's do the usual song and dance! After I deal with you again, I can get to taking out the trash." Flammadea said, and grinned wickedly.

And then the power hit her. It wasn't a physical blow, it wasn't an energy blast, it wasn't anything the naked eye could see…and that made it even worse as it slammed into her, knocking her back a few feet, as the mocking joy in her face suddenly morphed back into utter shock, because the power she felt was absolutely immense and…

No way…there was no way…

"Trash…trash?" Danny growled.

Green energy exploded on Danny's hands.

"Are you talking about my friends?"

Danny's eyes vanished in emerald power.

"ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT MY FAMILY!"

And the ground began to shake.

"………..No." Flammadea said.

And then Danny threw back his head and screamed.

A green aura erupted around him and expanded out, and then, as Flammadea recoiled, the earth below and the heavens above suddenly glowed green, and then gigantic pillars of energy erupted from above and below, spiking around Danny, as the earth shook and Danny bellowed.

"WAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Vlad Masters screamed as a mammoth pulse of power flashed from the orb he had witnessed this all on and blew him backwards across the room.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Was the general cry in the ghost bar as everything was consumed in chaos: tables, chairs, refreshments, and ghosts being sent flying and crashing into each other as the tremendous power surge spiked out through the crystal and echoed through the Ghost Zone.

Tucker was absolutely speechless, even as the ground shook underneath him. This was impossible. Danny was half ghost, and he had a fair amount of power, but this was beyond anything he should have ever been capable of. How in hell could Danny make the earth move?

Unless…

From underneath the rug that had been thrown over him via the power emanating from the observing orb, Vlad peered out. His face was awash in a shock that rivaled, and possibly even surpassed Flammadea's.

"No…no…IMPOSSIBLE!" Vlad yelled in a voice that was almost a shriek. "I AM THE ONE! NOT HIM! **_NOT HIM!_**"

And in the bar, Skulker looked over the side of an upturned table, his face also awash in shock, disbelief…and despite himself…some wonder.

"Could it be?" He said to himself, in a whisper only he could hear. "Could the Ghost Child be…the…?"

And back in Amity Park, Jack Fenton, still a bit dazed but possessing enough of his cognitive functions to comprehend what he was seeing, and feeling, as he looked upon the return of the white haired ghost child…

And realized something. Less then twelve hours ago, when he and his wife had come upon the earlier battle between the white haired ghost and the vicious fire spirit, he had aimed his newly composite Fenton Ghost Tracker at the two and tried to measure the power of the fire ghost. The reading had been so high it had almost immediately shorted out the device.

Except now Jack Fenton realized he hadn't been reading the fire ghost. He had been reading the white haired ghost. Reading the power that lay within him…

Power Danny was barely aware of. All he could think of was Flammadea's words, and the images in his head of all she had already done to his loved ones, and what she planned to do, and what he had to do.

And he was determined to do it. He didn't care how: he would succeed. By any means necessary.

Daniel Fenton. Danny Phantom. A Halfa, half ghost and half man…and in that combination the key to something older then memory and beyond human comprehension…

Something that could only be brought about…and within…if…

Flammadea's expression slowly changed from stunned shock to murderous rage. Once again, the impossible had been made possible. By the boy. By goddamn Danny Phantom.

But she was through letting that happen. No matter what she was feeling coming from the accused male child, she knew her destiny. And it was high time the boy finally learned it, and his as well, as she clenched her own fists and began calling upon all her power again. Fire exploded around her, twisting and waving in strange, terrible shapes, heat so intense it melted the street below her.

The pillars of green energy disappeared, as the huge aura around Danny briefly expanded out even more and then shrank back in around Danny.

As Flammadea finished her own charge up and, with a mad shriek, flew across the air at Danny. Once again, he matched her move, zapping in towards the Lord and Master of the Inferno.

"Sam…" Tucker said, as he saw the green and red auras streak towards each other, each trailing radiant energy behind them. "We might want to get down."

Sam listened, throwing herself on the ground.

As Danny and Flammadea met, their auras once again expanding, twisting around each other, each shining light trying to overwhelm the other before it exploded outward in blinding radiance.

The first blow was so loud that Tucker almost went deaf, despite the fact that he was holding his hands over his ears. The shockwave knocked the trying to get up Jack Fenton back on his rear end despite the fact that he was nearly a mile away. Several nearby still standing buildings, some weakened and some not, instantly collapsed under the force of the energy coming from the twin powers.

And that was just the first of many. Seismographs around the world read each blow as a mini-earthquake, and around the world those tapped into the flow of the powers and energies of the strange and mystic experienced everything from mild tremors to nosebleeds to pounding migraines. Jinx only got a brief glimpse of the clash before it felt like someone had slammed a sledgehammer between her eyes, knocking her senseless for most of what followed.

It was time for the end, but that end may yet prove to extend beyond one being and encompass part of if not the entire world.

As Danny and Flammadea traded blow after blow, punches, kicks, slashes, lashes, bludgeons, impacts, and possibly even a few strikes that would need new words to be invented to describe them. Indeed, for some of the clash, the world around them seemed vague and far-flung, as if reality as they knew it was being rent to pieces around them. Neither noticed: they were locked in the classic feud, the eternal dynamic of this existence, in a state beyond anything most people would ever know. One desired to save the world, and the other to destroy it.

And both were quite certain that their desire would win out.

Yet…

Flammadea zapped away from Danny. Though her conscious mind was too addled with rage and insanity to comprehend anything but her aforementioned destiny, a tiny part of her brain had begun to nag at her about a certain detail. She and Danny kept hitting each other…but Danny didn't seem to be much affected. Indeed…it could be said he didn't seem to be affected at all. The same could not be said for her: wherever Danny had pulled this latest miracle (he was worse then a friggin' Popple when it came to yanking junk out of his ass!), it had empowered him a great deal. And though she was too good at concealing pain to show the fact that his blows were affecting her…they were. They had hurt. But if that was the case, Danny should be feeling at least, and certainly more, pain then her. But his face was a mask of stoicism. She supposed he could be hiding it like she was…except she had been abused her whole life: Danny had not. The concept that he could mask pain as well as her was ludicrous. But if he wasn't hiding his pain, that meant…something she would not accept.

So, on the surface, all the tiny nagging doubt managed to influence on her was her choice to stop the war of blows and switch tactics. Which she did, as she did the aforesaid zapping away from Danny and fired off a blast of white flame at him.

Danny flew above it and fired off his own green blast. Flammadea dodged in turn and tried again, this time sending off a dozen white flame blasts from her hands. Danny thrust out his hand and a green shield appeared in front of him, the fire blasts striking it and exploding, but Flammadea was already on her next move, as she swirled into fire and vanished.

And as Danny lowered the shield, she reappeared…all around him. Her eight clones laughed and prepared to strike…

And Danny lanced to the right and behind him and smashed his fist into Flammadea's face, knocking her away, her seven other clones vanishing in puffs of fire as Flammadea found herself knocked out of her concentration. Somehow, Danny had found the real her, instantly, and…DAMN HIM!

Flammadea stopped and lashed out with a backhand across Danny's face. Danny whirled with the blow and slammed his heel across Flammadea's own face, knocking her to the side. Yelling in rage, she extended out several fire tendrils to attack Danny with, only to find them all missing as Danny swooped it and punched her across the face again, and again once more. Flammadea kicked out and knocked Danny away, and then came after him with a lashing fire sword/whip.

Her blow passed through his body, which suddenly turned all green and then broke into vanishing trails of energy. Flammadea didn't even get to blink at this new move before Danny slammed into her from the side with a kick, and then another punch, and as Flammadea reeled Danny reached out, seized her by her body, not flinching in the least from the heat, and then a gigantic blast of green power detonated on her, throwing her backwards and up into the air again. Danny flew up after her, as Flammadea recovered, screamed, and flew back at Danny, slamming into him and sending them both down towards Amity Park.

Amity Park's lone stadium lay below the town, having been struck by a few fireballs but otherwise ok, as the two forces grappled and struck at each other as they streaked towards the ground. They smashed through the roof, and there was a brief second of peace before green and red power streaked out from the roof and then from the entire building as the entire structure disintegrated into a billion flying pieces of debris as a gigantic explosion of power and flame blasted from within it. Huge clouds of dust plumed out from the destruction, mammoth billows of dirt and smoke filling the streets around the now gone stadium.

Flashes of light exploded through the cloud: if anyone had been around to observe they might have seen silhouettes of a male and female form striking each other in the light flashes. Those flashes went on for about fourteen seconds before there was a brief, sudden silence…

And then all the smoke was blown away, along with every piece of debris that weighed less then a hundred pounds, revealing Danny and Flammadea, standing on the ground, their fists connected, each having struck the other at the same time, their respective arms trembling as if each was still pressing on their opposite with all their might, and indeed they were, their eyes locked together…

And Flammadea flinched.

Danny's follow up punch sent her smashing through several more buildings and into the parking lot of Amity Park's largest mall. The building wasn't in the best shape: its sheer size ensured that at least some of the fireballs and attacks going around the city would strike it. However, it was still standing, and considering the town was abandoned there was still a fair amount of cars in the parking lot, some having been destroyed by the fireballs…and more joined those pre-destroyed vehicles as Flammadea was smashed through the gathered masses of them, the two-ton machines smashed away from her like toys, causing a rain of cars to fly across the parking lot, into the sides of the mall, and into any nearby standing buildings. She finally stopped herself a few feet from actually striking the mall.

She gasped, and then found herself holding her chest. That had hurt. That had really, really hurt…what was…

Danny was coming for her. Flammadea's head snapped back up as her eyes locked on him, and then she screamed and lashed out her hand in a wave. A gigantic eruption of fire blasted from the ground for nearly one hundred feet on either side of her and expanded outward, completely destroying the parking lot and any cars that had escaped Flammadea before…as Danny's image was struck by the fire, flashed green, and then broke apart. Another 'ghost image'.

As the real deal streaked in from Flammadea's side and punched her across the face, and even as she was in mid-reaction to the blow Danny seized her by the hair and flew forward, ramming Flammadea's face into the side of the mall and dragging it across, burning a large line across roughly seventy feet of the building before he shoved forward even harder, sending Flammadea melting/crashing through the wall and the two stores behind it at an angle before she flew out into the main mall walkway, and even as she tumbled back through that Danny came crashing through the wall behind her. A green energy blast exploded on his hand, and he hurled it after her, the blast flying true and striking the fire deity, an explosion erupting from the attack even as it continued to push Flammadea back, blasts of energy smashing out through the stores nearby the thrashing goddess. From the view outside the mall, a line of smoke eruptions blasted from within the building and continued down its length before Flammadea came smashing out the other end of the structure and flew into another building, which collapsed on her with one final blast of power.

As the remains of the shopping center came crashing down behind Danny, expensive clothes and electronics and many other products reduced to so much junk, he flew out of the hole he had made with Flammadea's body. He flew a few more dozen feet and stopped, waiting, his feet floating a few inches off the ground.

The building exploded off Flammadea in a storm of fiery wreckage. Danny wordlessly turned intangible and let whatever shrapnel that had flown his way go through him, and then turned solid again as Flammadea reappeared, as mad as he had ever seen her.

"YOU FUCK!" She screamed, and thrust out her hands. Within a few seconds, she had formed a blue ball of fire as big as her. "DIEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The ball flew out at Danny, melting a deep groove through the street underneath it.

Danny didn't move. He just held out his hand.

The giant blue fireball struck his palm…and stopped dead. Flammadea's eyes went wide.

Streaks of green crackling energy radiated out from Danny's hand, arcing over the fireball, the green power first entwining around it and then consuming it, remaking it into a crackling emerald sphere.

Danny fired it back at Flammadea.

She was too stunned to dodge.

The explosion shook the streets of Amity Park, the shockwave blasting the remains of the mall and any nearby buildings into pieces no larger then a paperback book. Another blast of black smoke and dust plumed up from the detonation, forming another mushroom cloud. Debris rained for miles around.

From the top of the cloud, several streams of fire burst and flew together, forming back into Flammadea, as she gasped for air. This wasn't happening. Not again. Not at her peak, after everything she had done. He was just a stupid boy. She was fire itself. She was forever. She could not be being outdone by…

Danny was floating up to her level nearby. Blazing eyes of hate fixed on him.

_"Four minutes remaining…"_

"YOU BASTARD!" She screamed, as red darkening to midnight black fire formed on her own palm. "BURN!"

She fired the Soulsearer blast at Danny. The attack went at a speed that could have given Speed Force users pause.

Danny dodged it, flitting to the side, just a bit, so the blast flew past him, missing by a few inches. His expression did not change. Flammadea gaped at the dodge, and then she screamed and fired another Soulsearer blast. Danny dodged it again. Flammadea's eyes literally shot off sparks.

"Stop…MOVING!" She screamed/growled, as she held out her hand, her fingers flexed, as orbs of black fire glowed at each fingertip. "YOU…WILL…BURN!"

And Flammadea fired off a stream of Soulsearer blasts, at different levels, angles, and speeds. The deadly ghost harming flame onslaught didn't even raise the slightest bit of change on Danny's face, as he zipped and zapped around every single blast. Flammadea fired at him for nearly fifteen seconds before she had to let off, and she didn't want to do so. She had to do so because she was…tired.

But…she couldn't GET tired any more. Not with her power! She couldn't!

Yet once again, here she was, and Danny, who had stopped moving again, didn't have a scratch on him.

"Arrrrrrrgggghhhhhhh…!" She snarled. "Why can't I hit you?"

And finally, a change, one Flammadea had never expected.

Danny sneered at her.

"Go ahead."

Flammadea blinked. Surely he hadn't…

"HIT ME." Danny challenged. "Take your best shot. Make it count."

Flammadea stared.

And then with one final scream she reared back and fired off another lancing blast of Soulsearer, aiming right for Danny's face.

The blast struck him just below the left eye. It threw his head back, and Flammadea gloried in the boy's stupidity, as she waited to see bits of blackened skull and gray matter go flying…

Which never happened.

And Flammadea found herself in numb shock once again as Danny turned his head back. An angry red burn now shone below his left eye, but that was the only sign that she had made her attack. An attack that should have been fatal. Instead…

"That didn't count." Danny replied.

And Flammadea lost it, as she screamed and formed twin balls of Soulsearer, firing them off. They struck Danny dead on and consumed him in an explosion, even as Flammadea fired off more and more of the deadly black fire, not caring about her exhaustion, not caring about the world she had to purge, only caring that this boy had to die, she had to kill him, had to, had to, HAD TO…

After several dozen smaller attacks Flammadea stopped, held her hands above and before her, forming one last beach ball sized orb of Soulsearer, and hurled it into the heart of the explosion she had made. The echoing blast sounded like an erupting volcano.

Gasping for air she didn't technically need, Flammadea looked upon what she had wrought. If forming just two blasts of Soulsearer drained a host to the point of uselessness, then after all that…no, it didn't matter. She still had more then enough, and besides, the bastard boy was finally…

The last of the smoke cleared…by being blown away by a brief surge in a shimmering green aura.

Of all her previous stares, Flammadea's reaction had just been shock. But this time, as Danny's aura faded back into him, revealing him none the worse for wear after all she had done…there was more then shock. There was complete and utter horror.

Danny looked upon her expression, but he betrayed no joy in it. Only grim ruthlessness.

"So…the monster who would destroy mankind…can't even destroy one little boy." Danny said.

"Wha…what…." Flammadea stammered. "What…what are you made of?"

Danny's eyes flashed green.

"RAGE."

The blow sounded like a nuclear bomb going off, as Danny cleared the distance between himself and Flammadea before she even knew what was happening and punched her across the face, so hard her features distorted out and snapped back, and then Danny slammed his fist across her face again, causing the same effect, his own face a mask of fury.

"I! AM! MADE! OF! **_RAGE!_**" Danny screamed, each word punctuated by a blow that shook the heavens, and as Danny finished his avowal he turned his final punch into a spin, twirling several times before he swung his leg out low and curved it up into a thunderous pistoning impact between Flammadea's eyes.

Flammadea didn't just fly back from the impact: her body was torn apart, the wind ripping her thrashing form apart until there was nothing but several writhing fire strands and vague shapes. Danny looked upon the mass, and then held his hands out to his side, forming a T, green power igniting on his hands and going all the way up his arms, and as the strands of fire began to converge into a general shape Danny slammed his arms together and fired off a blast of green power.

But Flammadea seemed to still have enough wherewithal left to know what was going on, as her barely formed body tore apart and twisted into retreating strands of fire away from the deadly blast. Danny didn't blink; he just shifted position slightly and fired off another blast of green power. Flammadea dodged that. Danny cut loose, firing dozens upon dozens of ectoplasmic blasts after the flame goddess, but her twirling form dodged them every time. Finally, in a case of déjà vu, Danny stopped firing.

Flammadea's fiery tendrils stopped running and merged, Flammadea quickly reforming. Though she didn't look happy, she looked like she was in a better mood then she had been a minute ago, as she raised a hand and waved it at Danny.

"Well, you might have discovered your accursed immortality anew, but your aim certainly hasn't improved."

Danny looked at her, and then he raised his right palm. Flammadea expected an attack, and was a bit surprised when none came.

Then he spoke.

"Look up."

Flammadea blinked.

And then she glanced skyward.

And found a ball of green energy floating above her. Several balls, to be precise. As Flammadea watched, another one moved into her line of sight.

And then her eyes widened as she realized that Danny hadn't just been firing wildly.

She jerked her head down, and found to her horror she was now surrounding by balls of floating ectoplasm, on every side of her, the last few moving in around Danny as he looked at her.

His eyes betrayed nothing.

He just clenched his fist.

And quicker then she could escape, the balls all converged on Flammadea.

Despite all the carnage wrought, some of Amity Park was still standing.

That all changed with the detonation of Danny's greatest attack: the shockwave knocked all the remaining buildings down like they were constructed of Popsicle sticks and kindergarten glue. In one swift moment, Amity Park's downtown went from gutted to utter ruin, and only the fact that they were in areas where no buildings were saved the few remaining humans in the city from being crushed by the collapse. Godzilla WISHED he could have smashed a city as effectively as Danny's attack had.

Several seconds passed, as Danny lowered his hand, and then took a few deep breaths.

And then the smoke cleared, revealing Flammadea. But unlike her assault on Danny mere moments before, she did not look like she had taken Danny's ectoball mass and shrugged it off. Indeed, her face almost seemed dazed, as she clutched her chest, or specifically, the area of her chest where the Sumerian artifact lay. She glared at Danny with baleful eyes, a vindictive expression that swiftly morphed into mad joy, emphasis on mad.

"Heh heh he…HA!" Flammadea screamed. "Did you think that would get me? You fool! You can't kill me! I'm already dead! I am fire, the very essence of life in its purest form! You can't stop me! NOTHING CAN!"

Danny looked at Flammadea. His eyes briefly shimmered green again.

"The reason you're still here is because I didn't put everything I could have into that strike that would be needed to destroy you." Danny said.

"You're bluffing." Flammadea scoffed.

"Maybe so, but I know this. You're not a purity of anything Flammadea. You're a perversion, an aberration."

"Fuck you."

"Think about it Flammadea. You speak of fire bringing life, and you are right! And fire also brings destruction! But something you do not understand, something you have never understood…is that the two are linked! One cannot exist without the other! Think, Flammadea! For once stop hating, and start thinking!" Danny said. "The sun that allows life on Earth, it's the same sun that makes the Sahara desert a baking arid wasteland and yet also makes the South American rainforests the greatest cradle of life on the planet! Fires that burn down forests can also release seeds that HAVE to be burned in order so they can sprout properly! A volcano may destroy an island, but its ash is rich in nutrients that will allow the life that perished by its molten rock and gases to return! The phoenix had to die so its offspring could be born! Fire brings destruction, but in the ways of nature and the world, it will also bring the rebirth from that destruction. But you…you only bring destruction, and nothing else! The only life you care to preserve is your own! The rest of life is there for you to decide on whether it lives or dies! That is not the way the world should be! Even YOU must know that!" Danny said.

Flammadea cocked her head.

"And sometimes, things have to change…" She said, in a voice so low Danny could barely hear it. "Sometimes, Nature realizes that its ways no longer work. The system it created is being overwhelmed by those who would use its gifts to take more then they ever need or deserve. And this is one of those times, boy. Nature is angry, and its wrath will be felt."

"That's not nature, that's YOU!"

"NATURE, I, IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE! WE ARE ONE AND THE SAME! OUR WILL SHALL BE DONE! THE WRONGS WILL BE MADE RIGHT!"

Danny's eyes narrowed.

"I wish it didn't have to be this way." He said. "But I guess some things can never change."

Flammadea smirked.

"You don't know how right you are."

And Flammadea looked down at the ground, and her eyes flashed.

The explosion was so small, and Danny was so high up, he barely saw it. Indeed, his altitude at first prevented him from making out exactly what the point of the explosion was…and then he saw two figures finish their brief tumble out onto open ground…figures that even Danny could recognize. His heart nearly stopped.

"What great friends you have, eh?" Flammadea chuckled, as she detonated a small explosion behind where Tucker and Sam had been hiding to watch. Oh, she had known they were there: her senses were tapped into any and all kinds of heat, including the unique heat a body made. An infra-red scanner might not have been able to pick up the forms of the two teenagers against the flaming, ruined city, but she could. Though on the surface it looked like her first blast had been off, it wasn't. She wanted them out in the open, where Danny could see. "Even when the world is falling down around them, there they are, hanging around, if only to provide support for good ol' Danny Fenton, who doesn't need it anyway because he's fucking IMMORTAL. BUT THEY'RE NOT!" Flammadea said, as a blast of blue fire appeared on her hand.

"NO!" Danny screamed. And if you're wondering why Danny didn't just zip over to Flammadea and knock her out of her attack before she launched it, well, he might have seemingly taken everything the fire goddess could dish out before without blinking an eye…but some looks can be deceiving. And on top of all the effort he had expended on his last attack on her…let's just say that he wasn't in the same tiptop shape he'd been in a minute before. His teenage inexperience struck again, in the fact that he hadn't known when to conserve energy.

And that was going to cost him.

"I made a promise boy. And I ALWAYS KEEP MY PROMISES!" Flammadea shrieked. "IF YOU WON'T BURN, THEY WILL!"

And Flammadea launched her fireball.

And Danny took off after it, chasing after the streaking blast of doom like his life depended on it…and in a way, his life was the unimportant thing. He should have known that Flammadea wasn't done, that she had a trick up her sleeve, that her utter lack of mercy was as great a power as the fire that fed her.

Tucker and Sam should have run, but with the attempt to recover from how their observation of the battle had suddenly become their brief trip through the air and unpleasant landing, and then the sudden awareness that a giant ball of blue fire was heading right for them, they were frozen in the way some humans become, watching their death head toward them like they were just observing a movie, and Tucker even noted that it was strange, such a hot blast of fire should have reduced him to ash long before it got near enough to actually strike him, it must be Flammadea's amazing manipulation abilities at work again…

And Sam, as the ball filled her vision, couldn't help but admit the turquoise flame actually looked rather pretty…

As Danny got around the ball and zipped in front of his friends literally half a second before the ball struck.

"NO!" He screamed.

The blast sent out an eruption of flame at a 45-degree angle that was nearly three hundred feet long and a hundred feet high. And while Danny managed to take the brunt of the attack, the backlash was still more then enough to sent Sam and Tucker flying like rag dolls. Even as the immense agony of the blow washed over Danny, he still had enough self-awareness to see how Tucker and Sam were flying, that they would be dashed to pieces by the landing, and with a brief hand gesture he managed before he was completely consumed by pain, their forms were encased in green energy, the makeshift shields taking all the bone snapping organ pulping impacts as Sam and Tucker bounced across the ground and came to rest several hundred feet away. The trip had still knocked them both senseless though, but all things considered, that was truly the very least that could have happened to them.

And it was a state Danny almost envied, as the smoke cleared around his prostrating form, Danny on his hands and knees, making strange noises of pain through his teeth. The back of his outfit was completely gone, that entire frame of his body covered with hideous burns. This hadn't been like the previous attacks Danny had soaked up from Flammadea: with all those Danny had been in a combat mindset, directing his powers into the proper defenses, which allowed him to stand in the face of all her assaults, including the Soulsearer barrage, and take it. But this had not been a prepared defense: this had been a panicking knee jerk reaction, and Danny had had no time to form a proper shield of any kind. And it had cost him dearly, as once again he found himself in agony and in a low energy state.

He hissed one more time and then shoved himself back up, ignoring the scream of pain in his back. He had taken everything Flammadea had dished out so far, he HAD to…

And then Flammadea was there, as with a scream that seemed to have more then a little laughter in its undertone, she dropped from the sky and struck Danny across the face. Danny's brief flight from the blow was interrupted via a grabbing fire tendril, which seized him and reeled him back to Flammadea's crazy-happy face.

"You see boy? It's not who or who doesn't have the greatest power, it's who you know, and better yet, what you KNOW they'll DO!" Flammadea laughed.

"You're a coward." Danny spat back. Flammadea's happy expression faded back into her usual rage.

"Defiant to the end. And this IS THE END!" Flammadea screamed, and then she slammed Danny into the ground with her fire tendril and then hurled him through an upturned stone chunk of debris, the piece of granite shattering into bits as Danny was thrown through it. Danny rolled along the ground and tried to get up when twin fireballs blew him into the air, and even as he flew Flammadea appeared on the other side of him and lashed out with a kick, slamming Danny into the ground and ripping open the tender flesh of his back as he was sent dragging along the rough stone of it. Green fluid leaked from his wounds, as Danny came to a stop.

He lay still for a bit.

And then he turned over, shoved himself up, and as Flammadea landed near him, he turned around. Though the back of his outfit had been blown to nothing, the front, despite several earlier tears, was still holding up due to Danny's 'collar'. For a moment, Danny had the crazy thought that he was glad he hadn't been reduced to being bare-chested yet, because he didn't have much of a chest, or at least that was what all the boys in gym always said…

And then reality returned to him, as he looked at Flammadea. He wondered where the power had gone, the one that he had had just moments ago…

And he didn't care. It didn't change what had to be done, power or no power, as he struck a combat pose.

"Heh." Flammadea said. "You really should learn another position boy. Might make your life less painful."

Danny didn't answer.

He just briefly twisted one wrist, and then, in pure Neo fashion, he gestured towards Flammadea.

Bring it.

Sparks flashed in Flammadea's eyes.

And then the ground under Danny exploded, throwing him upward, even as Flammadea zapped above him and smashed him down into the rock and earth, Danny barely landing before Flammadea was there, kicking out and smacking Danny like a soccer ball across the ruins of Amity Park. Danny recovered in mid air and landed on his feet…and then Flammadea was ramming a fist into his gut, knocking the wind out of him, and then lacing her hands together and swinging them up, smashing them across Danny's forehead and making him go stumbling back…

And then one of Flammadea's fire tendrils surged out, formed into a point, and then rammed forward, piercing through Danny's right shoulder. Danny's scream of pain came out in a gasp, and then the tendril yanked him forward and Flammadea planted several punches across his face before snapping up her leg and kicking Danny into the air, and then, the tendril still through his shoulder, brought him back down into the ground, shards of shattered stone flying up from the impact. Danny spasmed once and then stopped moving.

Flammadea smirked.

And then Danny started coughing, more green fluid leaking from his mouth, as he feebly tried to get up. Flammadea shook her head in a "can you believe this guy?" expression.

"I guess it's time for the end of this dance." Flammadea said, and held out her hand. Her fingers extended out, the fire flowing from perfectly manicured fingers to cruel claws. "Let's see you get up from this."

Danny's vision was blurry, darkness creeping on the edges, and all he could see was a blur of red heading for him…

Which solidified into five talons of flame, going for his chest.

Danny's left hand snapped up, grabbing for Flammadea's wrist, stopping the claws an inch from his torso. Smoke rose from his palm, but he ignored that pain: there were more important things to consider at the moment. Flammadea's eyes narrowed at this, but only for a moment.

"Fighting all the way down, refusing to just roll over and die. How disgustingly male." Flammadea said.

Danny didn't listen, but his defiance didn't seem to do anything except draw out the seeming inevitable…and maybe it was inevitable. He was using everything he had, but that didn't seem to be enough to hold back Flammadea. And he didn't have anything else he could use.

And maybe…that was for the best. After all, it wasn't like he'd ever backed down, had he? He'd stood and fought to the utterly bitterest end, and he didn't have anything left. Why fight when there was no point?

Why go on when there was no hope?

Why do anything…when it was just seemingly better to do the easier thing…

And Danny remembered why this all had come about.

And he realized that he wasn't doomed. He had one last option.

But it was so terrible that even the prospect of his impending death didn't spur him to use it. He couldn't. Not even after everything that had happened.

So he tried to fight on without it, tried to keep Flammadea's hand from sinking into him and removing his living, beating heart, something he was sure even HE couldn't come back from…but she was just so strong…and so angry…and there was so much pain…

He couldn't…

But he had no other options…

But if he did it, was he any better then…

If he didn't, he'd die, and who would that help?

But…

"That's a good boy." Flammadea said, as Danny's resistance finally faltered a tad and her claws closed the distance, now a mere millimeter from Danny's exposed skin.

"Huh….no…" Danny hissed. Flammadea looked amused.

"No?"

"No…Flammadea…please…don't make me…"

Flammadea had been glorying in the fact she had finally made the boy beg, until the last words, which just confused her…

"What?"

"Don't make me…I don't want to…do it…" Danny begged. "Please…stop…"

"Well well, it seems you have forgotten just who is KILLING WHO HERE!" Flammadea growled, and shoved harder. The points of the fire claws pierced Danny's chest, and he screamed, but he kept fighting.

"Please…don't make me…" Danny gasped.

Battle not with monsters, lest you become a monster. And when you gaze into the abyss, be aware the abyss also gazes into you…so said Nietzsche…

"I'll make you do whatever I want. And you know damn well what that is…" Flammadea said. Her claws sank in another inch. Danny screamed again.

"That's a boy…"

"Please…"

"Just be a good boy…"

It was down to his life or his supposed morals. If he did what he could…did that make him as bad, if not worse, because he knew better…

But…if he died…

"Now…just be a good bastard and go to hell." Flammadea said.

The claws sank in…

"…I'M SORRY!" Danny yelled, as he brought his right arm up, somehow doing it despite the damage to his shoulder, and clamped it on Flammadea's face.

Flammadea may have refused to change, and she thought that refusal had been it. But even she didn't know what had happened during the brief time that she had joined hands with Danny Phantom, seemingly for him to help her, only for her to violently reject said help, her sickness too deep to be uprooted…

But something had been done anyway, as for a brief moment, Danny had indeed been connected with Flammadea. And he had begun to carry out his promise. But all he had gotten was a few brief moments to do what he had planned to do.

But that was enough to get the memories.

The memories that drove Flammadea, the horrific events that had shaped her life and death, every single bit of pain and humiliation and misery forced on her by human scum. The images had been so horrifying to Danny that he had immediately repressed them, shoving them into a corner of his mind and concentrating on the task at hand. But they were still there. And no matter what happened, Danny had been willing to keep them…but in this situation, there was only one choice for him to survive: he did not have the strength to repel Flammadea, so he had to use something else.

And as much as he loathed the fact, loathed himself for it, in the end his survival instincts won out over his moral compass, as he grabbed ahold of Flammadea's face and again established a link with her.

And he fired all the memories he had taken back into her, taking years and years of atrocities and combining them into one giant horrendous sideshow that he shot right into her, forcing her to relive everything she had been used for, abused for, and worse within the space of a second.

Flammadea didn't just stop shoving her claws into Danny's chest: she recoiled away like she had been struck. She stumbled back several feet from Danny before she stopped.

And in her face, Danny saw a trembling terror, a face seemingly on the verge of tears, a terrified little girl not understanding why she had to go through this, a girl who had grown up, a girl who had become such a terrible thing.

Evil spawns evil.

And if good does nothing…then all is lost.

And despite all she had done to him, as Danny looked upon Flammadea's face, at eyes that wanted to shed tears but no longer could…he no longer felt any anger or righteous vengeance towards her. All he felt was pity.

"I'm so sorry Haley." He said.

Flammadea just blinked several times.

And then…

Danny had though he had seen anger. He had thought he had seen hate. He had thought he had seen murderous vehemence. And he thought that Flammadea couldn't manifest an expression with those emotions any greater then she already had towards him.

But the look that came over her face then was so unbelievably powerful Danny almost had a heart attack right then and there. In that expression, he truly saw hell.

And its fire quickly followed, as Flammadea made a wordless, almost soundless noise of absolute fury and lashed out, so utterly consumed in anger that all she really did was throw a weak fireball at Danny, lacking any comprehension to do anything greater. It was still enough to send the once again standing Danny tumbling back several dozen feet, as Flammadea continued to make gibberish noises, no words in any language able to express her fury.

For a little while anyway, as Danny stood up again and Flammadea's eyes, clouded with her overwhelming wrath, focused and locked onto him.

"HALEY ANN ROXX IS DEAD!" She shrieked. "SHE WAS NEVER ALIVE TO BEGIN WITH! I AM FLAMMADEA! I AM THE QUEEN OF ALL FIRE! I AM THE DESTINY OF THE WORLD AND THE WRATH OF THE WOMAN AND NOW, **I AM ANGRY!**"

Flammadea floated up off the ground, and then a twenty foot around tower of fire exploded up around her, washing up over her even as it shot up into the angry black clouds, as threads of fire suddenly lit up within the clouds, covering Amity Park with malignant radiance, and the earth began to shake again as the fire washed around Flammadea, somehow flowing around her so her own form of fire didn't become obscured or consumed by the eruption.

"And YOU, DANIEL FENTON, JUST LIKE HER, ARE **DEAD!**" Flammadea screamed, as she held her hands out before her, as several dozen tendrils sprouted from her back and flowed out around her. Balls of fire began appearing at the end of the tendrils, some red, some white, some blue. And in the hands of Flammadea came the black Soulsearer fire.

And Danny realized that this was it.

It was time.

"I'm sorry Sizzle, Flammadea, whatever your name may be. What happened to you wasn't right. But neither is this. You've made your choice. Now I have to make mine." Danny said. He didn't know how much power he had left, as he brought his hands to his sides, but he vowed to use every last bit of it, as he began to concentrate, even as Flammadea screamed again and her fireballs grew larger.

And all around the world, pyrokinetics suddenly found their talents raging out of control. Katherine Grant, known as Spitfire, was sitting with her father, Ted Grant, known as Wildcat, and several of his teammates in the legendary Justice Society of America, for a quiet dinner, when she suddenly found fire spilling from her mouth, setting the table ablaze and nearly the whole room before the leader of the team, the rather goofily named but nowhere goofy at all Mr. Terrific managed to use his high tech "T-Spheres" to erect a shield around Katherine, a shield she threatened to burn through anyway, if she didn't burn through the floor first. Elsewhere, Beatriz LaCosta, known simply as Fire, suddenly found the green flame she commanded flaring up out of control: if she hadn't happened to be nearby a large river in which she found she had to dump her fire into, much property damage could have resulted. In the latest HIVE Academy, Jinx was finally recovering from the backlash of Danny's ascension when alarms began to go off around her, and Jinx, responding on instinct, got up and headed for the alarm, which turned out to be one of her classmates, Scorcher, who Jinx didn't know all that well but knew was acting unlike herself, as she screamed obscenities about men and attacked anything that moved with her own fire blasts, nearly roasting another of Jinx's classmates, a plant controller called Floral, before the grunts of the HIVE turned a mass of fire extinguishers on her, and even that that only slowed her down a bit.

The world shook. The heavens burned.

And green power appeared between Danny Phantom's hands, an orb of emerald energy, a tiny light manifesting before the darkness, as Flammadea continued her wordless screaming and cursing. Danny's pity had not faded, but it was once again matched by grim determination, as his own power grew. It still seemed pathetically small before Flammadea's amassed rage, but Danny did not think of that: only of the all important thing, the reason that he was still standing after all this, the NEED TO DO WHAT HAD TO BE DONE.

Flammadea grinned. Lucifer himself would have trouble matching what lay within that smile.

"NOW……**_BURN!"_**

And Flammadea thrust her arms forward, and all the fire blasts spewed forth, the red, white, blue, and black flames all spiraling together to form one giant blast of dark fire, pure evil power let loose upon the earth.

And with his own cry, Danny thrust his own arms forward, firing off a green lance of power. With Flammadea floating some distance off the ground, the two blasts flew at each other at a rough thirty-degree angle, and struck.

Power exploded outward, blowing away anything that wasn't nailed down and pretty much everything that was as well. The green and dark blasts shoved at each other, spraying out from the point of impact…and then Danny's began to be pushed back, almost easily. Flammadea's eyes shone with madness.

"GO TO HELL!" She screamed.

Danny's blast crumbled beneath Flammadea's wrath, pushed back and back to where Danny stood, still firing despite the seeming hopelessness of it all, even as his blast grew shorter and shorter…

"GO TO HELL! GO TO HELL! GO TO HELL!" Flammadea screamed.

Danny's blast disappeared entirely, the only thing left a green glow on his hands, as the dark fire washed over him. It didn't just burn him, it also seemed to chill him, eat at him like it was a living thing. The green glow was the only thing keeping it from completely enveloping him, and even that was fading…

"GO TO HELL! GO TO HELL!"

Danny closed his eyes, as he felt it all coming down…

And then, he remembered.

Jazz's expression of utter terror upon being freed, horrified by what she had seen within Sizzle...

His mother consoling him when it looked like Sizzle had doomed her to die…

His father standing against all odds…

Danny's eyes opened again.

Tucker bursting into flames…

And Sam's expression of utter agony as Sizzle forced her to harm him…

"GO TO HELL! GO TO HELL! **_GO TO HELL!"_**

And his eyes shone bright green.

**_"YOU FIRST!"_**

And Danny thrust his arms out, and his blast returned, doubled, tripled, quadrupled, overwhelming Flammadea's dark fire blast like it was nothing and scattering it to the winds as Flammadea suddenly found her power gone and her vision filling with green.

"AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

Flammadea was consumed by the blast, her silhouette vanishing, as the gargantuan attack flew up above Amity Park and briefly bathed it all in emerald before it punched a hole through the black clouds above the city and flew off into space.

Cracked and smoking, the Sumerian artifact clattered to the ground.

And then, silence.

Gasping for air, Danny lowered his arms. His whole body felt numb, dead, almost nonexistent in its weariness, as if it was as insubstantial as Danny was when he turned intangible. Around him, tiny bits of debris began falling, even as Danny took after their example and fell to his knees. He took in several more gasping breaths, staring at the ground.

And then he heard the clicking noise. He recognized it. It was the sound of a weapon being armed.

Though it seemed like the small action would requite more effort then the act of running a marathon, so exhausted was Danny, he managed to push himself up and look at what had made the noise…not surprised to see his father standing there, holding a battered Fenton Ghost Bazooka, a Bazooka that was aimed at him. But Danny, as he looked at the sight, found he couldn't care less. In a way, it was oddly fitting. He gave up so much, only to get arrested or zapped into the Ghost Zone. Yeah, that would just be the perfect end to this utterly marvelous three days.

And yet…at the same time, Danny's cynicism was tempered by the fact that something seemed a bit off. True, his dad was aiming the Ghost Bazooka at him, but he wasn't demanding a surrender, he wasn't crowing over capturing Inviso-bill, he wasn't even holding the weapon in a perfect aim: the barrel was a bit off, the weapon held somewhat loosely in Jack Fenton's hands. He looked more like he was aiming the Bazooka at Danny because he had no idea what else to do, rather then any real desire to do Danny harm.

So Danny just looked at him, still halfway hyperventilating, as his Dad's face came into full view from the dust and debris…and Danny knew he'd been right. There wasn't any anger on that face, or aggression, or even a "have to do my job" grimness. Instead there seemed to be confusion, and a wary fear that people who are not certain that their ordeals are over yet wear.

Danny looked at his father, and wondered if he knew just whom he was aiming the Bazooka at. And if that would make any difference.

And then the Bazooka shifted slightly, the end tilting down. The gun was still in a position so it could immediately be brought back up if needed, but Danny wasn't expecting that to happen.

Nor was he expecting the question that came.

"Why?"

Danny blinked, staying silent for a few seconds, not quite understanding the question at first.

"…You mean, why do this?" Danny asked.

"…Aren't you supposed to be evil?" Jack asked. Danny suddenly had a terrible urge to burst out laughing.

"What do you think?" He said instead.

"…You always seemed to be at the center of trouble. You always seemed to be involved in something…I thought there might be some benefit we couldn't understand or hadn't uncovered yet…I thought there was a reason…you were a ghost…and…and…" Was All Jack Fenton could say.

"I suppose you had your reasons." Danny said, and winced as one of his many injuries reminded him of its presence. "I suppose what's important is, what do you think now?"

Silence.

"…That fire ghost was evil. Whatever its reasons might have been, I know it was evil. And you stood against it. You stood where even heroes known for facing down great powers failed to stand. And as far as I can tell…you did it for no money, no applause, no recognition except the possibility for the blame to once again be laid on your shoulders, for no real gain to speak of. With all the things that seemingly every human being in this modern world hold more precious then anything else not being there…you still did it…all on the basis of idealism, and you did it again, and again, and again, fighting on when any sane man would have laid down and died long ago."

The Bazooka shifted again, and then with a shoving motion, Jack tossed it on the ground.

"How could I have been so wrong?"

Danny would have smiled, except his jaw ached too much from all the punches that had been slammed into it. Well, if anything, at least this would stop his parents from hunting him.

"We all make mistakes Jack. In the end, we're only human." Danny said, managing to avoid calling his father 'Dad.'

"And what are you?" Jack asked.

"Me…" Danny said. "I'm a Phantom."

"That all?"

"…No. In the end that…"

And then Danny felt it. His eyes went as wide as saucers.

"MOVE!" He screamed, as he thrust his hand out at his father, somehow finding one last wring of power within himself to fire out an ectoblast, an attack meant to be more of a shove then an assault, an attack that struck Jack Fenton and sent him flying away with a startled cry, as Danny's terrified eyes looked skyward.

"DIE!" Flammadea screamed.

And then her line of fireballs came down, a row of giant red blasts aimed along the ground at Danny, ones that Danny was far too weak to dodge, and he screamed as one struck and blew him away, the ones following completely obscuring him from sight.

"Oh no!" Jack said as he tumbled: he could barely see what had happened due to his twirling viewpoint, but he had seen the Phantom get caught in the blast and vanish, and then any other agonizing Jack Fenton wanted to do was interrupted as his head struck a rock that was sticking off the ground a bit, knocking him senseless as he came to rest some distance away.

"Ha….ha ha ha ha ha…" Flammadea gasped from where she was floating, high up in the sky. "Close boy. But not close enough. You may have blown off the artifact, but I don't need that. My power is my own. MINE!"

The clouds began to rumble, as Flammadea held her hands before and shrieked with laughter.

"MY OWN! FOREVER! NO MATTER WHAT! I AM FIRE! AND LIFE INCARNATE! NOW AND FOREVER, I AM THE LORD AND MASTER OF THE INFERNO, FLAMMADEA…!"

The last word was a bit muted, as Flammadea seemed to lose her enthusiasm in mid-bellow. She had seen something. Something very strange.

One of her hands was…flickering.

Flammadea stopped her glorying and looked at her right hand.

Tongues of fire were licking from it, brief tiny spurts that momentarily marred the perfection illusion of flesh that her body had. Confused, Flammadea turned her hand around, looking at the back, and then at the palm again. She focused, and the flickering flames stopped. But as soon as she stopped focusing, they started again.

"You only got one part right." Said a female voice Flammadea had not expected to hear again. "The now part."

Flammadea turned to look at Raven, floating in the sky nearby. The girl was a mess: her cape was so shredded that it now looked more like a bonnet then a cloak, and her bathing suit outfit looked like all it would take was a sharp tug to completely remove it. But there she floated.

And she wasn't alone. She had one hand out, forming a dark energy platform, on which Savior stood, and he, likewise, had a Shimmer strand out which formed a platform a dozen feet away on which Cyborg was positioned. Flammadea glanced to her other side and wasn't surprised to see Starfire floating there.

How all four of them had not only escaped death from her blast, but also the fact that Amity Park had been reduced to burnt ruins in her battle with Danny, Flammadea didn't know. Superheroes could be worse then cockroaches: just when you think they're down and squashed, they start moving again. But that fact didn't much bother Flammadea. All four looked as messed up if not more so then Raven, and had Flammadea not been distracted, she would have laughed at them: what were they going to do, mount another offense? With what?

But…she had other things on her mind, as she suddenly felt something she hadn't felt in forever. A chill. In her hand. Flammadea looked down at the appendage again, and found that the hand was not only flickering with fire spurts, it seemed to be dissolving, the fingers and nails briefly becoming cruder constructs of flame like they had been in her old body. Flammadea stared at it, uncomprehending. What was going on?

"The inevitable. The one you ensured." Raven said, and Flammadea looked up at the goth.

"…What?"

"It was a question we were baffled by long before this." Raven went on. "Where were you getting your power? How did you seem to be so much stronger then before? Even focusing your power through hosts, and this Sumerian artifact…something didn't add up. No being can pull power out of nowhere. It had to come from something. And now, we finally know what was giving you your edge Flammadea. Yourself."

"What?"

"Simple science." Savior continued.

"Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transferred from one form to another." Cyborg added.

"And that applies to everything. Including you." Starfire finished.

"If a human being exerts themselves, they use resources from their body. Sugars, fats, water, and so on. But if humans want to keep exerting themselves, they have to replace what they used. If they don't, their body can't keep going. And if they somehow keep pushing themselves without replenishing their stores…then their bodies can start breaking down. Malfunctioning. In some cases, dying. But that's a human being. Ghosts seem to be different. But not so much that a similar rule can't be applied to them. You've got power, Flammadea. And rage can be a power multiplier. But even rage has its limits. And when that limit is surpassed, and one insist on going on…other sources of power have to be found. And if, say, you're so consumed with rage and hate that you don't even notice that fact, well, you might be able to get away with it for a while…but eventually, a price is going to have to be paid."

And Flammadea suddenly felt a lurching twist within her chest, and she gasped out a breath of hot air, and then her arm once again became cold, colder, and she found she wasn't just loosing high definition of the limb, she was losing any definition at all.

"No…this can't happen! I'm already dead!" She cursed.

"Maybe so, but you still exist, Flammadea. You still have a form. And that's where you've been getting all the extra power. You've been cannibalizing your own body to feed your rage and destructive desires. And you got away with it for a while. But I'm afraid you've finally hit the edge Flammadea. You've taken so much that your body is starting to break down. A process that could have been reversed, if only you'd been aware of it. But you weren't."

"NO! MY POWER…!"

"Has peaked. You've used up everything you could, and beyond that. Now…nothing's left Flammadea. You are the Lord And Master of the Inferno…but not forever. I'd say you have a little under ten minutes."

Flammadea's eyes blazed. No, they were lying! She couldn't be…breaking down, ceasing to exist! She had to destroy the male sex! It was her destiny! She had the power! She…

Had the equivalent of a heart attack, as she gasped and hunched over, holding her body. She could feel it. Whether it had been extraordinary timing or the loss of the Sumerian artifact, her form was now starting to come apart from within. She looked frantically around.

"Don't bother trying to possess us." Raven said. "Even if you could get through the blocking spell, the way you enhanced your body with that ritual would burn us out in seconds. There's nothing you can do Flammadea. It's over. It's time for the end. Why not make it peaceful?"

Another heart attack. Flammadea gasped in pain, hunching over again.

And then…she started to laugh.

"Hah…ha ha…so be it then." Flammadea said.

And she reared back and screamed, and heat exploded from her body, driving all the Titans back from it as they gaped in shock.

"Raven! I thought you said she was out of power!" Cyborg yelled.

"I said her power had hit its limit and that her body was breaking apart because she forced herself beyond it! I never said she was powerless!" Raven yelled back.

"SO BE IT!" Flammadea screamed again. "IF I HAVE TO GO, I'M TAKING AS MUCH AS THIS GODFORSAKEN FUCKING WORLD AS I CAN WITH ME!"

"Oh shit, she's going to do a suicide blast!" Savior cursed. "Raven, didn't you consider this?"

"I'm psychic, dear lover. I'm not omnipotent." Raven said, as Starfire flew in to be close with her teammates.

"How much can the crazy bitch muster?" Starfire asked, and blinked as everyone gaped at her for her choice of words. "I believe that is an appropriate description from your language to depict her!"

"If these readings are accurate, and they keep rising at the level they are…she can put enough behind one blast to blow most of the Eastern Seaboard off the map." Cyborg said, looking grimly at his arm, and then at his teammates. "Any suggestions?"

"Yeah." Savior said, as the Shimmer sprang from his other arm and formed into a fancy looking sword. "Take her down! TITANS, GO!"

And the Titans were on the attack, Starfire carrying Cyborg and Raven carrying Savior as they flew in to strike.

But by now a ball of fire had appeared around Flammadea, and unlike all the other times where she had manipulated the heat of such things so it would be far less then normal, it wasn't happening now. And the heat was insane, driving the Titans back before they could get anywhere near her. Cyborg armed his sonic cannon, as best he could with the way his body was messed up, and began firing, as Raven chanted a spell and hurled bolt after bolt of black energy at Flammadea. Neither attack even seemed to be noticed.

"DAMMIT FUCK!" Savior cursed. "KEEP ATTACKING!"

And even as the Titans resumed their futile assault, even as Flammadea gathered everything she had left in her disintegrating body and prepared to unleash it all at once, none of the Titans recalled that the cloud of fire was still spewing its wrathupon the earth, and its edge was finally starting to encroach on a large facility in the mountains, panicking men and women running around as they tried to make sense of what was happening, and what could happen if the fireballs started falling on the plant, a possibility for whichthe JLU satellite was still prepped to fire…

* * *

_"90 seconds remaining."_

"May all the gods in all cultures, worlds, and realms have mercy on their souls." J'onn said, as the main JLU satellite began to actually open up into weapon mode. "And mine."

* * *

Danny's eyes fluttered open, suddenly aware of a blistering heat. Well, that wasn't exactly a new experience for him, but this was different. It was too…focused…too… 

The slight twitch of his body considering getting up sent a shockwave of agony through Danny, and he nearly passed out again. He coughed, and then opened his eyes as he saw what was in the sky.

He saw Flammadea, in a ball of fire, and though he didn't know the details, he knew this was it.

For him. He was done. He had used up absolutely everything, plumed his utter depths, and in the end it hadn't been enough. And from the flitting figures he could see around the fireball, frantically attacking it and having no success at all, it looked like that would prove to be his doom.

Something else caught the corner of his eye. He looked to the side from where he lay on his back.

Sam lay there, unconscious, sprawled across the rock like a broken toy. He stared at her for a bit.

Sam. Perhaps she'd suffered more then any of them. At least his sister and mother couldn't remember being hosts for Sizzle/Flammadea. The fire spirit had saved that special agony for Sam alone. She had to remember, in some way, what Sizzle had made her do. In the end, for all the suffering she had inflicted on him, at least Danny could bear it knowing he'd done everything to the best of his ability. But Sam…

Somehow, though a moment ago he had thought it was impossible, Danny found himself pushing up onto his feet, stumbling over to Sam, collapsing in the dirt beside her. He spied Tucker out of the corner of his eye, nearby, but he didn't think he had enough left for two trips. Indeed, with the difficulty he had turning Sam over, he might be on the verge of passing out again.

"Oh Sam…Sam…" Danny said, looking down on Sam's face. He brushed the dirt off, and noticed how peaceful she looked. At least she would have that. She would go to whatever lay beyond not knowing pain or fear. At least, he could give her that.

Bits of the ground and earth were floating up from the insane force Flammadea was summoning. It seemed even greater then the fire blast she had directed at Danny, the one he had dug so deep to counter. Was that even possible? How could she top that (especially knowing the factor of her body breaking down that Danny himself does not know)? Well, people making suicide charges can sometimes take a dozen bullets when a non-final mindset will just ensure one shot will prove fatal.

Whatever it was…he couldn't stop it. He couldn't save Sam, or Tucker, or his Dad, or Mom, or the Titans, or even himself. He just…

The glimmer caught his eye.

Danny kept amazing himself, as his head turned to the latest thing to catch his gaze. What was that?

And how in the hell could he be moving, considering he had been so sure his limbs were on the verge of falling off? Danny didn't know, as he gently laid Sam's head down and got up, and began tottering towards the glimmer, some distance away. He did not know how he knew the way, but he did.

Though in the end, when he finally came across what he had seen, the bitter irony of it nearly made him fall into a crazy laughing fit that he would never escape as his brain flew off the skids and into the same clouds of madness that empowered Flammadea, and kept her from realizing her fatal flaw until it was too late.

It was the Sumerian artifact. Flammadea's series of blasts from the air, after he had been so certain she was gone, must have somehow blown it over in this direction without breaking it. They didn't make that kind of quality any more, Danny crazily mused, and then harsh reality reasserted itself, as Danny fell to his knees. What good could this do him?

"You…" Danny said, as he picked up the hand-sized octagon, the rough stone warm to the touch. "What was the spell…Laptop Dingle Dingle…heh, why bother? We're all damned. And it's all my fault."

* * *

"GOD DAMNIT!" Cyborg cursed, as he tried a stupid move and fired missiles at Flammadea. Those worked about as well as the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick. "RAVEN! YOU HAVE ANY ICE SPELLS LEFT?" 

"I can barely keep myself aloft, much less summon more ice, thank you very much, but hey, why not give it a try…" Raven muttered to herself. "All that can happen is that I'll have an aneurysm, but hey, in a bit I'll be vaporized into ash so may as well get to it…Azarath Mentrion Zinthos!"

A blast of ice flew Flammadea's way…and was snuffed out within fifteen feet of her. Raven moaned and nearly passed out, Savior grabbing her while doing a strange balancing trick with the Shimmer which distributed the weight of the two of them so it looked like they were floating in mid air for a bit without Raven holding them up. The strain for such a tactic was murderous though, and Savior nearly passed out himself before Raven recovered. Flammadea continued her mad laughing.

"She's gathering for the blast…she might be vulnerable then…maybe we can disrupt her concentration…only chance we have left!" Raven said.

* * *

Danny stared at the Sumerian artifact, thinking his bleak thoughts…and then his eyes strayed to the bit that was broken off, that made the last part of the last line of the message unknown. To think that his greatest problem had once been bullies ruining a sketch by stepping on it. If the only problem he had in his next life was obscure ancient languages, they maybe… 

And then the artifact began glowing. A soft green. Danny blinked.

And then, green energy flowed out from the end of the broken word, forming into a symbol. Danny didn't recognize it though…and then the other words became alit in green and then floated off the artifact, as if written on the air itself. And then…Danny found the words shifting, reforming…

_For true untranslated, look lost word…_

Into English.

Danny stared at the now readable sentence.

For true power, look within.

"…What power…?" Danny asked. "I don't have any power left."

_Do you believe that?_

The words were strange: they partly sounded like Danny was thinking them and partly sounded like another voice entirely. In a normal state, Danny would have found this strange: here, he accepted it as simply as he would have accepted that he needed air to live.

"What else do I have? I did everything…not enough…"

_What do you want?_

"…I…I…" Danny said, and looked back at Sam. "I want to help them. None of them deserve this. I just want to help…all I ever wanted…"

_Then that is all you need._

"…you must be kidding me…" Danny said. "What could…"

And then Danny felt it. It felt like warm water, running up through his arm…water that emerged as green shimmering sparks of power, as the Sumerian artifact floated up from Danny's palm.

* * *

"Heh…heh heh…" Flammadea laughed to herself. She might have been dying, or ceasing to exist, but the way there was sure one hell of a ride. Time for the last peak. 

The fireball around Flammadea began to retract.

"SHE'S PREPARING! GO! NOW! NOW!" Raven yelled.

The fireball around her completely vanished, leaving Flammadea…

As Starfire flew in with a scream and punched the fire deity with all her might. Her blow would had smashed a train engine, even as it burned all the flesh off her knuckles…and all it did was drive Flammadea back a bit. She didn't seem to show any more effects, as she grinned.

As Cyborg, carefully tossed by Starfire, dropped down before her and let loose with every last bit of juice his sonic cannon had. The tremendous impact blew Flammadea back and broke bits of fire off her body, but it didn't seem to do anything else. Cyborg cursed, even as his arm overloaded and start to break apart, as Starfire swooped in and caught him, even as Savior hurled himself through the air at Flammadea, lashing out with myriad Shimmer strands…

And then a tendril of fire smacked Savior right out of the attack and sent him flying off in another direction.

"ARGH! WHY ME!" He cursed, as Raven appeared from the shadows behind him and caught him. "TOSS ME BACK! EVERYONE…!"

And then a strange sensation washed over Savior. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it felt like when the sun came out from behind the cloud and got rid of the shadows on the ground as it washed over you…magnified by the power of ten.

Raven's eyes went as wide as saucers.

"Oh no."

* * *

Danny stared at the power coming from his hand, forming a shimmering orb around the Sumerian relic, marveling at it. Where was this coming from? He was so certain he was tapped out… 

And it didn't matter.

_What matters to you?_

"I have to save them." Danny said.

_What are you willing to give up?_

"Everything I have and more."

_Are you sure?_

Danny's eyes glowed as green as the power emerging from his palm.

"Yes."

And the orb grew brighter, the power flowing from within Danny growing stronger, and stronger, concentrating around the artifact, the key…

Danny never knew just what he had found. Savior and Raven had theorized about certain things, but they had not shared what they had spoken of with him. The closest he had come to knowing what this was was Vlad's alarmed mutterings, and considering that had only been one confused sentence that Danny had immediately forgotten, it might as well have never happened at all. And even the older Halfa had not understood what Danny was now doing…

There was a key to the power, and it was one designed to weed out the unworthy, designed to be a test virtually no human, by instinct or by nurture, could accomplish. You could not desire power. You could not be aware of what you could be. All you could do was wish for other things, for whatever reason, but they could not be based in selfishness. You had to wish for the power without desiring to use it.

Vlad had never learned that, and hence never understood that what he had found was in fact nothing. Those who could be keys could very well find part of what they sought, perhaps even a fair part, but by the very nature of knowing what he wanted, Vlad had doomed himself to never find the true source of it, its heart, where the true power lay.

A power that Danny, in his quest to save his town, his friends, his family, and the world, had touched on, never questioning on what it was or where it came from, just acting…a power he was now fully joined with, as it obeyed his wish to do what he wanted…what had to be done.

Perhaps Danny would not survive the experience. And even if he did, he may never reach the same state needed to do what he had done now. It may be a peak he never touched again.

But he didn't care. He knew what he needed, and it responded, as the orb grew brighter, and brighter, the artifact spinning within it.

For a moment, the power was his.

Danny Phantom.

The Primmortal.

And the power surge stopped.

Danny shut his eyes.

And then he opened them again, as he looked upon his desire.

And then the world went to hell.

* * *

"Ha ha ha ha…HA HA HA HA HA!" Flammadea laughed. "GOODBYE EVERYONE! IT'S BEEN A BLAST! BUT NOW IT'S TIME FOR DESTINY! I'LL TURN YOU AND YOUR CITY AND EVERY MALE I CAN AND ABOVE ALL ELSE THAT FUCKING BOY INTO CINDER AND ASH!" 

And Flammadea slammed her arms up.

And fire erupted down from her body, a massive surge of flame nearly five hundred feet around, an ultra concentrated blast that shot down towards Amity Park.

"OH NO!" Starfire screamed.

Savior looked at Raven.

"Now what do we do?"

Raven's face was many things. Angry. Afraid. Sorrowful. But above all…grimly accepting.

"We die."

* * *

Danny saw the utterly mammoth blast start coming down, almost right at him it seemed. It filled the entire sky. 

He could almost swear he heard Flammadea laughing.

He looked down at his orb, so small in comparison. But no despair filled him.

"I'm sorry Haley." He said to himself, as the fire blazed down towards him. "I'm sorry for what they did to you. I'm sorry for how much you suffered. I'm sorry I couldn't do anything else to help. I just hope…that in this…you will find the peace you craved…that you…deserve."

And Danny's head snapped up, looking at the doomsday blast, even as he threw his arm back.

"NOW…BE…GONE!"

And he hurled the orb towards the blast.

* * *

Flammadea laughed and laughed: she could feel her body start to disintegrate anew, but she was certain she'd take in the rest of the show before she was all gone, and Savior anguished that the last thing he heard would be the laughter from a soul poisoned to its core… 

And then Danny's orb struck the fire blast. It was like an ant attacking a dinosaur.

But the blast stopped. Dead.

Flammadea's laughter cut off.

"What?"

The two attacks warred briefly, shining beams of light coming from the green orb as it shoved against the massive fire blast, Danny standing on the ground, his arm still held out and locked as if he was willing the orb forward.

And then Flammadea's fire blast exploded. Fire spewed outward in every horizontal direction, filling the whole sky with fire, but a fire that did not touch the ground below it.

"NO! WH-WHAT HAPPENED?" Flammadea screamed. The Titans, so certain a moment ago that they were doomed, were just as stunned, as the fire cloud spread out and burned underneath them.

As part of it briefly glowed green, and then Danny's orb came shooting out from the flames.

Raven saw it, and then she got a taste of what Jinx had felt as what it was slammed into her empathic senses: POWER.

"RUN!" She screamed, as she flew off as fast as she could with Savior. Starfire didn't need to be told twice as she too took off as fast as she could with Cyborg, as the orb headed straight for Flammadea.

Flammadea found herself staring at the green orb, somehow seeing within it at the artifact that lay at its core…

As the Titans zapped down through the fading flame cloud, Savior somehow spotting Sam and Tucker on the ground and grabbing them with Shimmer lines as Raven booked it across the sky…

Danny held his pose…

And Flammadea, as she watched the orb fly in, somehow saw Danny's face shining from within.

"No."

And then the orb struck her.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH………!" Flammadea screamed, as the power reached out, ripping deep into her form, and pulling her apart by her very atoms.

**_"DAMN YOU FENTON!"_**

And then Flammadea vanished in an explosion of green. The light lit up the entire sky of Amity Park for a brief moment before the green turned into an outright explosion of fire, flame that expanded and expanded out, reaching down towards the ground.

Danny lowered his arm.

As he realized the fire was still spreading, coming down before him in a skyline spanning cloud, a cloud of fire that stopped just before him.

As the burning flames twisted into a gigantic face, a face barely recognizable, a face that let loose with an inhuman roar as Flammadea bellowed her wrath…a roar that turned into a wail as the face turned up and then split apart into nothing, all features vanishing into the fire.

And strangely…a soft, contented smile came over Danny's face.

As the fire cloud washed over him and carried him away, one last destructive force striking down upon him and the Titans, as the shockwave smashed into them like the moon was landing on them and scattered them all to the winds.

As the massive fire cloud that consumed the center of Amity Park expanded out even more, and then suddenly contracted, going up towards the fire spewing clouds, withdrawing into itself and into nothing…and then streams of golden light exploded out from the epicenter, thousands of them, streaming out and away from Amity Park (though two dipped down into the actual city), a brilliant shower of luminescence that went on for several seconds.

And then, with one final blast, the clouds were blown away in a circle and scattered to nothing, leaving only the clear night sky.

* * *

And up on the Watchtower, J'onn eyes widened as the clouds flashed green, then red, then gold, and then suddenly scattered. Within three seconds, the atmospheric disturbance had vanished entirely. 

J'onn waited a few more seconds to make sure his senses weren't tricking him, and then, with a sign of relief, he reached over and hit the emergency shutdown for the satellite cannon, stopping it with a little over fourteen seconds left.

"Well done children." J'onn said. "Well done."

* * *

J'onn's words might have been oddly appropriate: the last blast may have very well cooked the Titans well done. But you and I know better… 

Coughing, Cyborg managed to force the wreckage off himself. The last blast had cost him his right arm, and both his legs felt wonky. But he was alive, as he coughed on the dust.

"Yo!" He called. "Anyone there?"

"In one piece so far…" Raven said as she suddenly popped up next to Cyborg. Cyborg managed to see Savior step up beside her just before his jacket completely disintegrated. Savior looked annoyed, and that brought a brief smile to his face before his mind returned to more important things.

"Star! Anyone! Anyone there?" Cyborg called again.

"I am here!" Starfire replied from a distance, and a few moments later she came through the dust. She had Tucker slung over her shoulder: the black teen appeared to still be waking up. "That was highly unpleasant. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it a 7 in last gasps."

"What the hell happened?" Savior asked.

"Danny." Raven said. "It looks like the rookie came through."

"Uhhhhhhhhh…" Tucker moaned. "Just five more minutes Mom-AH!" Tucker screamed, as he fully regained consciousness and found himself looking into Savior's face. "AH! IT'S NOT MY FAULT!"

"You appear uninjured in any severe way." Savior said, and stepped back and turned, leaving. Tucker looked over at Starfire, as he tried his feet and found he could keep them.

"His people skills really need work."

"He needs a vacation." Starfire agreed.

"Maybe…uh…guys…?" Tucker asked, getting everyone's attention. "Where's Danny?"

"Yeah, where is Danny?" Cyborg asked.

Starfire noticed the figure approaching from the smoke first, and a smile began to appear on her face…and then she saw just what the figure was, and it faded, even as Raven saw it, gave it a quizzing look, and then her own face fell.

"Oh no……."

Sam emerged from the smoke.

Danny was in her arms, his own arms and legs hanging limp towards the ground. He did not move.

"…aw no…not after all this…not after THIS…!" Cyborg cursed to himself as he ran for the pair. Sam collapsed, more under the weight of what had happened finally sinking in then a lack of strength. Cyborg pulled Danny from her arms.

"Damn it, no pulse!"

"…Danny?" Tucker asked.

_"Well, here we are again kid."_

_"I guess so."_

"All right…one, two, three, four, five…" Cyborg said as he began CPR: his one hand provided more then enough strength.

"…Do something! You can heal people!" Tucker said to Raven.

"…I can only heal. I can't…revive…" Raven said.

_"So, you want to go now?"_

_"Do I have a choice?" _

Cyborg proceeded to the breath of life, as Sam knelt nearby, her eyes beginning to fill with tears.

_"Well actually…sorta."_

_"What?"_

_"You know, you superheroes make my job complicated. Everyone else has a set time, but with you, you're here, you're not, you're here, you're not, all the time! Makes it hard to nail down a set period, you know? I don't mind making repeated trips, but it's not the way things go, y' know?"_

"Come on! Don't give up on me kid!" Cyborg said, as he continued his efforts. He even did so when Savior grimly walked up and a Shimmer strand flowed out and into Danny's ear. Savior stood there for several seconds, and then his eyes closed, his face angry, harsh, and poignant.

_"So, you want to go now?"_

_"Will it change anything?"_

_"Well no. Eventually it'll come time for you to go with me. But considering who you are, you get what a lot of people don't. Options."_

_"Who am I, a superhero?"_

_"Among other things."_

"Cyborg…" Savior said, putting a hand on Cyborg's shoulder. "He's brain-dead. He's gone."

"…No…Danny…" Starfire said, as her own eyes began to tear up.

"He gave up everything to save us. The noblest of all sacrifices…" Savior said, trying to sound like the sad but stoic leader who had to get everyone to carry on. But in reality, he wasn't doing very well: his voice even cracked a bit on the word sacrifices.

Sam pulled herself over to Danny and laid his head in her lap, and as her tears began to fall, she fixed Danny's hair. It was somewhat in his eyes, he hated that…

"You were too good for this world…" She managed to whisper, weeping. "You always were…"

_"I'd rather not go now."_

_"You sure? Might be best to get it over with now. I don't know the details of the future. That's my brother's job."_

_"…I believe I'd like to stay."_

_"So you want to put it off?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Peachy-keen! Then I'll see you later."_

_"…That's it? You're not mad?"_

_"Mad? Why would I be angry? You'll come to me eventually Danny. It's the way things are. But I can handle it if they swing a little differently at times. Keeps me on my toes!"_

_"…Who are you?"_

_"Oh, I think you know Danny. Now fly! Fly my pretty!"_

_Her laughter was strangely compelling…_

"Well…in the end…" Savior said, and found he didn't have a quote that could provide any comfort. "Sigh…those who run from what's important, die every day…those who die for what's important…live forever…if only in our hearts…oh kid…kid…"

And then Danny surged up, coughing violently, and nearly giving everyone a heart attack.

"…………….Danny?" Sam said.

"…Is it over? Can I go home?"

"…OH DANNY!" Sam almost shrieked, hugging Danny so tight she nearly killed him again via a broken neck.

"…He's ALIVE?" Cyborg gasped. Starfire looked just as shocked.

"…That's impossible. He was brain dead. His skull was no more capable of supporting life then a toaster. How in…what the…I mean…THE HELL?" Savior said, goggling at the newly revived Halfa.

"Miracles." Raven said, as Tucker, who had at first tried to hide the fact he had started on a crying jag and then just headed over to where Danny lay with Sam. "They're our stock in trade Noel. Sometimes even when all is lost."

"Yes but…I mean…oh, who cares." Savior said.

"…Flammadea?" Danny asked.

"Gone. You did it Danny. You saved the day!" Tucker exclaimed.

"Though the town could use some work." Sam said, her eyes still shining with tears.

"Oh…they're just…things…people are what's important…now…can I go to sleep?" Danny asked, his voice faint.

"Just make sure you come back to us again." Sam replied.

"That's why…I did…" Danny said, and then his head went limp again, but this time in the peaceful rest of slumber.

"Joy…all is well…all is…I am beeping." Starfire said. She reached for her skirt and pulled out her communicator.

"You still HAVE that?" Cyborg asked.

"I thought it was broken with the previous impact that knocked us out of the fight…maybe the last one knocked it back into working order?"

"I'll answer." Savior said, taking the communicator. He expected it to be J'onn, or maybe Robin.

He did not expect to see the grim scowling face of Batman staring from the communicator. Savior arched an eyebrow. The Dark Knight must have just gotten back from the mission he was on.

"Good evening Batman." Savior said.

"Perhaps, Savior, you could explain to me that when I arrived back at the Watchtower, it was resetting itself back from a firing state, a firing state you ordered it to be put into, under a duress so strong you somehow convinced J'onn of it's importance, with a target that was RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES?" Batman growled.

Savior didn't answer at first: instead he looked around at Amity Park…what was left of it. Besides the hospital, a good chunk of the suburbs, and ironically, the heavily shielded against any kind of ghost attacks Fenton household, everything else was in ruins, smashed, broken, burned. Fires raged in several places, but they seemed to be dying, as if the loss of their master was too much to endure.

And…there was his team, and Danny and his friends, all alive. Some against odds so insane they were even greater then air spontaneously transforming into gold.

All thanks to Danny Phantom.

"There was a fire." Savior replied. "But we put it out."

And before Batman could answer, Savior snapped the communicator shut.

To Be Concluded


	20. Epilogue: Ashes To Ashes

Epilogue: Ashes To Ashes

Writer's Note: The end of this story features a little bonus in the form of a link to something. However, as most of you probably well know, links don't show up on this site. So for you to find the site, I will have replaced the usual symbols for the dot-coms with words symbolizing them.

Semi colon equals :

Slash equals /

Period equals .

When you reach the link at the end, replace the bracketed words with their appropriate symbols in the address bar. That will allow you to see the bonus. In any case, the end is nigh…

* * *

"Because of the realities of human nature, perfect peace is achieved in two places only: In the grave and at the typewriter." 

Richard Nixon

Danny didn't much remember what happened next. His sense of time was completely lost, dreams and blankness occasionally broken by far away words and sporadic blurred glimpses of figures. Some wore white, and some wore other colors. But everything was in a deep fog, as potent as anything London had ever produced.

The drifting was peaceful though, and Danny went with it.

And hence, he was not particularly shocked when eventually the haze lifted enough so that reality once again began to define itself, solidified into a light blue ceiling and part of a wall.

"Hey Maddie, he's waking up!"

A small head on top of large shoulders suddenly looked into Danny's vision. Danny blinked a few times before he fully recognized it as his father, though his lack of fear indicated he had always had an idea of who it was.

"Hey Danny. How you doin'?" Jack Fenton asked. Danny just blinked in response, and then his mother, her face slightly marred with worry lines but now in an expression of joyful relief, was in his line of vision too.

"Oh Danny." She said. She looked like she wanted to hug him: why she didn't was unclear to Danny for a bit, until his mind finally gained enough cohesion to ask a question.

"…Am I?" He said, not quite getting the word 'Where' tacked on at the beginning.

"The hospital Danny. Don't worry, you'll be fine."

"That's right, no car crash is going to keep a Fenton down! It didn't do it with me!" Jack said. And if they noticed the confusion in Danny's eyes, they probably wrote it off to a drug haze of some kind.

Jazz poked her head into Danny's already crowded view.

"You know Danny. You, Tucker, and Sam panicked after the second attack on Casper High and you hightailed it out of town, but you realized you had overstepped your bounds after a bit, not to mention none of you had gotten a license yet, and you turned around to go back. But when you got back the attack had begun anew, but despite the fact that the sky was raining fire you tried to get home to see if we were ok. Your car was caught by one of the fireballs that knocked it over, but you managed to pull Sam and Tucker out and to safety despite suffering severe burns for the act." Jazz said. Danny blinked.

"Yes, but don't worry Danny! You'll be fine! True, it was a little strange for you to go into a mild coma for exhaustion, but perhaps that was balanced by how quick a healer you are! The doctors are amazed: usually burns take twice as long to heal as they did for you! Yes, you come from good stock my boy!" Jack said, and he looked as if he was going to manly slap Danny before his mother intercepted him.

"You need anything Danny?" His mom asked. Danny tried to turn the simple question over in his head, and found it nearly impossible. And his vision was starting to fade again.

He could vaguely hear another voice: someone else had entered the room and was talking to his parents. Danny caught "needs his rest", and that was it as he began drifting out again, and as he did, a thought occurred to him.

His parents still didn't know. They'd been fed another cover story. His father hadn't made the connection between Danny and whom he had spoken to on the battlefield, and his mom's memories of seeing her son turn back while being possessed by Sizzle had been blighted and erased by the side effects of the de-possession. Once again, he was an enigma…which he supposed was good, in a way, but what about all he had gone through, did it mean…

And then, as his vision began to blur and darken again, he sensed more then saw a figure lean in close to him.

"You did good little bro. Real good." Jazz whispered.

And those words accompanied him back into the murk.

* * *

He slept. 

He spent more time, wandering through the darkness. He saw many strange things. He supposed his brain was completely burned out by what he had gone through and was now taking its time in rebooting itself. Still, some things seemed beyond even the incredible confusing conundrum of images the subconscious was capable of producing.

There was one moment where he saw the world, covered in ice, ice that suddenly vanished.

And another strange, disturbing picture: a white glove holding an eye, an outplucked eye seemingly fresh from its socket.

Once the harsh, gritty taste of sand seemed to fill his mouth…

And another time his hands seemed to be battering against a hard substance, impossibly hard, which he needed so badly to get through…

A twirling handgun and words, "You think you have anything at all, kid?" in a voice overflowing with cockiness…

Other things he only saw briefly and immediately forgot…

And…he could have sworn that somewhere along the way he saw a man, in long black robes, immensely pale skin, and incredibly spiky black hair, and the man may have said something to Danny, but he could not remember it…

And then once again, the dark.

* * *

The next time Danny woke up, he was somewhat more aware of it, as he slowly began to come back to the world he knew. 

"Danny? Are you waking up?"

"…………..Buh." Danny said, as he tried to open his eyes. They seemed to be almost glued shut.

"Tucker, don't push him. He's still healing."

"Oh right. Sorry Sam."

"…Guh." Danny said. "Guh-guys?"

"Yeah, Danny, it's us."

"…Wah-tuh."

"You got it."

A smooth straw slipped between his lips. Danny drank slowly, as the fog lifted more. He realized he was sitting up somewhat more then he had been last time, in a small room with closed curtains and soft florescent lights. And there were Sam and Tucker, on another side of him. Tucker was sporting a sling, but besides that he and Sam looked perfectly fine.

"…Oh man…" He said, for no real reason.

"Hey Danny, check it out." Tucker said, as he produced a mirror. Danny looked at it and started, just a bit, when he saw that one side of his face was completely covered with bandages, his black hair bristling out from the top, a small hole cut into the bandages to allow him to see with both eyes. "Imhotep got nothing on you!"

"Mmmpphhh…are we talking about the 1932 version or the 1999 version…" Danny muttered. A few minutes and some more water later, Danny was pretty much fully alert.

"How long have I been out?"

"A little under two weeks. The doctors were a tad bit worried Danny: apparently burns like yours shouldn't cause the catatonic state you went into. But we know the truth, and we knew you'd come out of it."

"Heh…my poor parents…they must have been worried…but…why don't they know the truth now?"

"We figured it would be best if you yourself decided to tell them." Came a new voice. Danny started a bit, but Sam just glanced backwards.

"You're slower then I thought."

"You try packing all of Starfire's luggage onto a banged up T-Ship." Cyborg said as he suddenly stepped from a pool of darkness in the corner of the room. Starfire quickly followed, bounding over to Danny's bedside in a motion that almost hypnotized Tucker. Savior, in an almost sneaky way, slipped out behind the two, staying behind them, even as the shadow portal converged into a dark purple cloak that wrapped around the female figure of Raven.

"Friend Danny! I am so joyful to see that you are still alive and possessing all your major limbs and most of your vital fluids!" Starfire joyfully squealed. "I will sing all 1400 verses of the Song of Happy Recovery!"

"Don't Star. I think Flammadea put him through pain and suffering." Raven said, as she stepped up next to the alien. Starfire looked at Raven with confused eyes, not sure of the joke.

"…Flammadea. Sizzle. What happened?" Danny asked, the question having been planted in his brain by Raven's comment.

"The aftermath of the mess here caused plenty of people to show up. Including S.T.A.R Labs and some of the greatest sorcerers on the planet. Apparently the events here caused more then a few ripples in both the physical and mystical worlds. In due course every single inch of the city and the surrounding countryside was tested, both to ensure there wasn't any delayed damage waiting in the wings and also to see if anything could be found of the being called Flammadea who caused all this."

Raven paused, though whether it was for dramatic emphasis or bad news, Danny didn't know. He felt his heart catch.

"…They found nothing. At all. And they went over it three times just to be sure. There isn't a trace of Haley Ann Roxx, known as Sizzle and Flammadea, left. She's gone, Danny. Completely and utterly. It's finally over. It's ended."

Danny was clearly relieved at the words, but at the same time…a slight pallor came over his face. Starfire noticed it first.

"What is wrong Danny? You saved the day, us, and untold millions of lives."

"…She was in so much pain. Sometimes I wonder if she was more of a victim in this then we were. I mean…"

"Whoa, whoa. Danny, stop right there. That path leads down the road to madness." Cyborg said.

"It's true what happened to Haley was utterly inhumane…and it's also true that virtually all evil, human evil anyway, is made, not born. Nurture is far more important then nature in deciding who we will be…but Danny, as you understand that, understand this." Raven said. "We always have a choice. ALWAYS. It might be a hard choice, it might seem impossible, it might even BE nearly impossible…but we always have a choice. Sizzle made hers. She, in some way, let her pain turn malignant, and let that malignancy consume her. It's a tragedy, and we shouldn't forget, forgive, or stand for what drove her to this. But in the end, the choice was hers to make."

Raven sighed.

"Yet…even so…even I can't help but feel there were outside factors at work here. Even though part of her chose it…another part of Sizzle never understand what she had done, what kind of curse had befallen her, a curse that has happened to many before and will happen to many in the future. She hated so much what men had done to her…yet she never realized she was doing everything they had, and worse. That's the curse Danny. You become what you hate. Sometimes you become something worse. Remember that too Danny. But above all else, remember that she made her choice in the end. You tried to pull her back, she wouldn't go. At least she's at peace now, even if that peace could only be found in the nothingness of oblivion."

"Yes Danny. You must move forward. The past cannot be changed. The future can. Focus on that." Starfire said.

Danny still looked saddened, but another drink of water seemed to ease his burden.

"Can I ask how you set it up so it didn't look like I was the guy who saved the day?"

"Wasn't hard. We just came into the hospital carrying you and spouting the cover story. They bought it, and when people asked about the guy who stopped Flammadea, we told them that he said he had to disappear for a bit, to recover from the great exertions that he had made. They bought that too. After all, why would we lie?" Cyborg said, and winked.

"Though Batman gave us one of those glares again. I am free to question his sanity, am I not?" Starfire asked, glancing back to where Noel was. He was in a corner, and while it couldn't be said that he was slouching and sulking there, he didn't quite pull off the illusion of 'too cool for school', though one couldn't be sure if that was what he was going for.

"If we're playing Twenty Questions, can I have one?" Tucker asked.

"Uh…yeah Tuck?"

"Danny…how did you do that?"

"…What Tuck?"

"Danny…what you did out there…it was amazing…how did you do it?"

A pause.

"…I…I don't know." Danny said, as he brought his hand to his head. "All I can remember of what happened…is blurry flashes…brief snapshots…and I have no idea how to connect them. I just can't remember. Any of it."

"It's ok Danny. It's not important." Raven said. "You came through in the clutch. The whys are irrelevant."

"But what if…something this bad happens in the future?" Danny asked.

"I'm not worried." Raven said. "I think whatever may happen…you'll be ready for it. Somehow."

Another pause.

"Um, Friend Danny, I was wondering if you could solve a mystery for us in turn." Starfire asked. Danny looked at the alien.

"Uh, sure Starfire. What is it?"

"Well…I am not sure how to explain this, I find it so unsettling…perhaps one of you could espouse on it better…?" Starfire asked.

"I'll do it Star. Something VERY weird happened while you were sleeping Danny." Cyborg said.

"What?"

"Oh, I better set the scene. As you might remember, you fight with Flammadea pretty much razed every part of Amity Park. Something that the people…"

"Who still don't really want to believe in ghosts, despite the fact that their town was completely trashed by one." Raven interjected. Danny rolled his eyes.

"Something that the people of Amity Park found rather disquieting, to say the least. The Justice League came down afterward and cleaned it up a bit, but they're needed elsewhere on the planet. However, STAR Labs does have a special division that works exclusively on repairing the damage involved with metahuman brawls. They sent most of their entire team here, but they were certain they were looking at at least several months work. So they started, cleaned the roads, patched up the suburbs so some people could come back home for a day or two if they couldn't find or afford to go anywhere else, and then one night they stopped for the day and left to sleep and when they came back the next morning…well, Starfire, will you get the curtains?"

Danny arched an eyebrow in confusion, turning his head to the window as Starfire went over to the curtains.

Then she pulled them aside, and Danny understood why the Titans were questioning him, and why Starfire had seemed so incredulous in her ability to describe what had happened. Because Danny hit her peak of disbelief within a second.

There, outside the window…stood Amity Park. Perfect, pristine, untouched, as if the events a few weeks ago had just been a terrible nightmare. It was a good thing Danny wasn't drinking any water at the time: he probably would have choked to death on the liquid (and wouldn't THAT have been ironic). As such, he nearly suffered severe ocular nerve damage when his eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

"…Please tell me that everything that happened wasn't a dream, and I'm not about to wake up in front of the couch having fallen asleep watching your TV show and eating some way beyond its best date food." Danny said.

"Oh no, everything happened Danny. Including your severely damaged town being completely fixed overnight. Even a troop of Speed Force users would have some trouble doing that, and they'd make one hell of a racket. Yet this happened without anyone finding out why or how. We thought you might be able to shed a little light on the subject." Raven said.

"Believe me Raven, I'd like to know as much as you. But I don't have a clue."

"I figured that would be your answer." Sam said. "Raven, the night this happened, I slept overnight in this room. I'm a light sleeper. If Danny had done ANYTHING, I would have seen it, or sensed it, or something. But I slept the whole night through. And I assume Danny did as well. I don't think, as great as it is, that Danny had a hand in this."

"Well…ok. We believe you Danny." Cyborg said. He too had wandered over to the window, looking out about the fully restored Amity Park. "Though I hate to leave this as an unsolved mystery…but at the same time, this completely baffles me. Believe me, we checked the repairs VERY VERY thoroughly in case it was some kind of trap or deleted attack or something, but no. Everything's legit and fixed down to the very smallest detail. What the hell did someone do, rub a magic lamp?" Cyborg said in disbelief.

* * *

Well…not QUITE a magic lamp. 

"That was a nice thing you did Hun." Wanda said to her charge, the buck toothed pink-hatted Timmy Turner, who also happened to have a pair of fairy godparents.

"Aw, it was nothing compared to what he did for you, not to mention my mom, Wanda." Timmy replied. As expected, the Turner household had had quite the little panic after Mrs. Turner and Wanda had found themselves victims of Sizzle's soul sucking Sumerian ritual (and they couldn't exactly call for help as the same had affected the entire town of Dimmsdale, which resulted in virtually every place in Dimmsdale having quite the little panic). Fortunately, the less then 45 minutes the panic lasted before Flammadea had been defeated had not been enough time for Cosmo to do anything particularly stupid (he was too rattled and hence caused more random things to happen then anything productive), and when the women of Dimmsdale had all sat up wondering what the heck had happened, the town quickly breathed a sigh of relief and immediately proceeded to forget the whole incident (Except Denzel Crocker, who had what his doctors would term an 'incident' as he ran down the street screaming that the sudden female collapse had been the work of…wait for it…wait for it…FAI-RY GODPARENTS!). Cosmo did them one better: he proceeded to forget everything that had happened that day.

Timmy, on the other hand, wanted to know just what had happened, and wished to know. Wanda, to her credit, decided to scan the incident before actually showing Timmy what had happened in Amity Park, and hence was able to snip out all the foul language (By Titania, that fire spirit had a salty mouth!) and other bits that were inappropriate for someone as young and inexperienced as Timmy before showing it to him (though she wished Cosmo hadn't watched as well: without all the bad bits removed for Timmy's sake he had absorbed the whole thing as some kind of pinnacle of action movies and was STILL bouncing off the walls. Then again, sometimes looking at the floor a certain way would make him do that, so nothing she could really do). Timmy had been suitably impressed by Danny's actions, and had wished, for him, that his town be restored…or at least, that was what he had done eventually (and if you're wondering why he took a few days to do it, well…he got distracted. By Cosmo. You're surprised?). And hence it was.

"Well, what do you want to wish for next?" Wanda asked.

"I don't know…doing nice things for people has a certain…charm…" Timmy began.

And then a large book thumped down next to Timmy, who jumped, as Cosmo poofed out of nowhere, laughing in the way he did.

"TIMMY! LOOK AT THIS!" He guffawed, as he flipped open the dictionary. "This word is hair, and THIS word is HARE, and they mean two different things, BUT THEY SOUND THE SAME! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! IT'S HARE-LARIOUS! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

And Wanda saw that look come into Timmy's eye again. Forget wishes for other people for now: Cosmo had worked his usual benevolent chaos and now Timmy would surely wish for something that would result in a huge mess that they would have to fix.

Well, come what may. At least Timmy had them to fix such messes. Such fortune could not be said to reside with Daniel Fenton (his luck in avoiding his death aside). But Timmy had helped out there. But the NEXT time Timmy did that…didn't look like it would be appearing in the near future.

The look in Timmy's eyes had only increased, as Cosmo continued to laugh, and then disappeared in a puff of light and smoke that said "Some Things Never Change!"

* * *

"Well, whatever may have done it, it is comforting to know that not all incredible powers seek the chaos and the destruction and the knocking down of all the buildings and the hurting and shoving." Starfire commented. 

"What do I do now?" Danny suddenly asked.

"Well…we hung around, at first to organize things and then to make sure nothing else was going on, what with the whole town reappearing overnight as if by magic and all…but we're getting ready to go back home Danny. And you…I guess you heal and then go back to your not so average life." Raven said.

"…And that's it?"

"You wish for more battle?" Raven asked wryly.

"NO! It's just…I went through all this…and…that's it? All I get is a higher tolerance to pain and a first hand look of just how terrible the human race can be?"

"There are many results which could have been far far worse Danny." Starfire said.

"Yeah, but still!" Tucker suddenly piped up. "Who organizes things so that dead tormented females come back and get god powerups and wreck havoc and never die while the good guys get a hospital stay before they've shoved back into the meat grinder?"

"Tucker, if I had the answer to that, I'd find the bastard myself and kick him in the nuts." Cyborg replied. "But as Star said, all things considered, things turned out pretty good! What do you want, a medal?"

"That would be nice!" Sam said tersely.

A slight shifting noise finally reminded Danny and Co that Savior was in fact in the room, staying silently in the corner. He had just shoved off the wall.

"Let it be said that everyone gets what they deserve…except such a saying is untrue. But sometimes the truth of it shines through." Savior said, as he reached into his jacket and withdrew a large black jewel box. "This wasn't easy to get Danny. Even though we spent every second minute giving you all the credit for the whole saving thousands of lives and preventing a nuclear explosion and all that, the government can be somewhat picky in rewarding people who have disappeared and may very well never show up again. However, we had a secret weapon. You see Danny, Superman hates it very much when bad things happen on his adopted home, things he should have been able to stop himself if he wasn't dealing with some other crisis, and when someone else steps in and does the job for him, at great risk to life and limb, well, he knows who to talk to, what to say, and how to say it. So you can thank him for getting through all the red tape, but you can just thank yourself for everything else." Savior said, and handed the box over.

Danny had discovered his hands were bandaged up fairly tightly, which made the act of opening the box more difficult then it normally would be. However, that just increased the drama, as Tucker and Sam leaned in to see what lay within.

It was, indeed, a medal: a bronze medal with what looked like a Roman Centurion on it, with stars on his collar and an eagle on his helmet.

"That is the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The highest honor that can be awarded to a non-military citizen. It is, as its military counterpart the Congressional Medal of Honor, awarded for conspicuous intrepidity at the risk of life in action with an enemy, as well as extraordinary gallantry in action which influences the outcome of a battle. Awarded to John Doe, the Phantom. And you'll forgive me if I couldn't give them your real name." Savior said.

Danny said nothing. He just stared at the medal, which did indeed say Freedom on it.

"………Thanks." He managed to say.

"Not a problem. Though I suggest you don't let your parents see that Danny. Be pretty hard to explain away."

"I'll keep it." Sam said, taking the medal case from Danny. "Until the proper time."

"Yeah…that sounds good." Tucker said, stunned for some reason.

"…Well, I guess that's everything. Time to move out Titans. Jump City could very well need us." Savior said, and stepped back to let the Titans say their goodbyes. Raven did it with a demure handshake, Cyborg a more powerful one, and Starfire as usual nearly killed Danny with one of her hugs.

"Bring the T-Ship around the front Cyborg." Savior said, as he used a Shimmer strand to open the window in Danny's room. Raven floated out first with a gentle wave, and Cyborg and Starfire (the latter carrying the former down as he pressed buttons on his arm) did likewise. Savior was left alone in the room.

The six eyes of Danny and his friends settled on him. He appeared to be pondering something.

"They also wanted to give you this. I disagreed on the fact that the distance between our bases of operation means that any possible aid we could give would be rather delayed, which can be a killer in this life…but besides that, you could find its functions useful. And I certainly don't think you didn't earn it." Savior said, and then a Shimmer strand offered Danny a Titans communicator. Danny, after the usual pause, took it.

"We'll mail you the special codes. Oh yes, one last thing. Your town, its disbelief aside, is very grateful for "The Phantom", previously known as Inviso-bill, for doing what you did. They might forget quickly, but for now, they remember. Oh, and they arranged for a small statue of you to be built in Casper High. Sorry that the description we gave made it so it won't look anything like you, but why tempt fate?"

"I'd say you have to be sorry for more then that." Sam replied quietly, but tersely. Savior glanced over to her.

"Excuse me?"

"Don't think that this oh so touching outpouring of support makes me forget how you treated Danny beforehand. You put him down at every turn and expected nothing of him, and then he goes and shatters every single expectation you have of him. You, who considers his judgment so important and absolute, because you can't go through your life without everything in its own box. Even if you have to force it in. Which you tried to do to Danny. And I have not forgotten that."

"Yeah." Tucker added, now looking at Savior with an expression of very slight but still noticeable menace.

Savior remained stoic though, as he glanced at the two glaring faces and then at Danny.

"Well Danny? You have anything to say?"

"…You really are an asshole Noel." Danny replied.

Savior arched an eyebrow, and then looked at Sam and Tucker.

"Do yourself a favor. Pretend you never heard that name." Savior said, as he shoved off the end of Danny's hospital bed. It appeared he was ready to leave, except Sam wasn't done talking.

"Just like you're going to pretend what happened here never did, spinning it until it fits your viewpoint of life?" She snarked.

Savior paused, and then he glanced at Sam, and then at Danny.

"All right. I will admit my actions here were at the best un-chivalrous and at worst completely un-conducting of the ideal I claim to serve…but do not think this is because of any self important delusion of mine, young men and lady. No. Understand this." Savior said, as he put his hands behind his back and turned away from the three. "Anyone…well, not anyone, but work with me on this…anyone can get splashed with toxic chemicals, suddenly gain the ability to lift cement trucks with their brain or shoot beams out of their eyes, put on a costume, and call themselves a superhero. But that does not make them a superhero Danny. That makes them a person with some powers and a title. But what it embodies…no."

Savior seemed to be studying the wall.

"This is a very harsh world we live in Danny. You might have an idea of how that is, especially now, but you're still too young to understand it fully. It's bleakness can be merciless and seemingly forever. Even the best of is can find its austerity digging deep into our hearts. It can become easy to lose sight of what we serve, to come to disdain and outright loathe the principles we try so hard to follow. It is easy to look at those we fight, on all fronts, and see how their lives are simpler in a thousand different ways…and part of human nature calls out for that ease, for us to give in to it and take the more traveled, easier road, because resisting brings nothing but grief. Humans are trapped between animal and god, someone once said. And we want all the privileges of the latter and all the responsibilities of the former. By that very factor, that flaw that runs so deep in us…you cannot just acquire powers and a costume and be considered a superhero. No. More often then not, you do not have what it exemplifies."

Savior turned back to face the three.

"These frauds…I see them every day Danny. On the news, in the paper, on the internet, hell I once found a Booster Gold sticker on my banana." Savior said. "But for all their flash and glamour…it rings hollow Danny. Rings with inexperience and misunderstanding if not outright delusion. In this life Danny, you rarely have time to make an in close assessment, and in the swiftness usually required, you must decide if you can find the qualities within a person that will make you certain that person will watch your back. These frauds rarely have it Danny. Usually they never do."

Savior turned around again.

"They don't have the willpower to sacrifice gigantic amounts of themselves to seemingly hopeless causes, willing to take on the most terrible of things for the most pitiful and nonexistent of rewards. That is the mark of a superhero."

Savior turned around and started heading for Danny again.

"They don't have the strength to look in the eye and on the actions of the worst of the worst, and not become infected with a loathing that is just as hard and violent as the one they claim to stand against. They cannot help but think it would be easier to do more then pound the enemy into submission, to take the next step and inflict on them the harm that the villains would surely mete out if the shoe were on the other foot, thinking nothing of being just as merciless as them…never realizing that by doing such an act under the banner of a higher cause, they are worse then these enemies could ever be."

Savior was back at the end of Danny's bed.

"And above all else, in this modern world, where people fight for money, for possessions, for fame, for power, for sex, for jealousy, for revenge, for the need to settle the darkness in their own heart…these people cannot, and maybe never will realize that what you must fight for is ideals. Ideals that are so hard to hang onto, so pitiful in the face of so many things, so easy to discard, mock, abhor. To be a superhero, one must stand tall in the face of all the evidence that was and is to come, the so called verification that such things are foolish, false, repugnant, impossible. One must stand up in the face of all the yelling, all the noise, and say…we can do better then this. The one who stands and does that, with the certainty of gaining nothing but the worst of the world…that is a superhero. Danny Phantom."

Savior locked eyes with the ghost teen.

"Anyone can hold up a world Danny." He finished. "It takes a true Atlas not to shrug."

Savior pushed off again and headed for the window, without speaking. He stopped about three steps from it.

"Oh yes, Tucker." Savior said. "This came in the mail yesterday. Almost forgot to hand it over. And in regards to it, there shouldn't be any blanks."

A Shimmer strand almost whipped across the room and offered Tucker something. He took it.

A photograph. Of all the Titans together. Signed by all the Titans.

"There's your autographs and picture. You don't get DNA because who knows what evil mutant clone it will end up in." Savior said as he hopped onto the windowsill. "If I find that on Ebay, I'm coming back here and making you eat that PDA."

"Uh…k…" Tucker said, once again stunned. Savior turned around.

"See you around Danny."

"Danny? What happened to rookie?" Danny asked jokingly.

"Do you see a rookie around here?" Savior replied.

And then the white haired teen stepped backwards onto thin air, and just like that, he was gone.

"…………….AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Tucker suddenly screamed. "A one of a kind photo autographed by every Titan! Savior autographs are nonexistent! I need a mylar bag! I need heat-disinfected tweezers! I need a temperature-controlled vault!" Tucker shrieked, as he ran around like a lunatic.

"I need a break." Sam jokingly groaned, and smiled at Danny.

Danny wondered why he felt the way he did when he smiled back.

* * *

Ten days later… 

"I still can't believe this is all real, sometimes…" Danny said, as he walked through the hallways of Casper High. He had been released from the hospital four days ago: the doctors had been amazed how quickly his burns had healed up. He had been rather amazed himself. But not too much.

"Believe it. Casper High and Amity Park are back." Tucker said, in lockstep, as usual, with Danny and Sam.

"Still. I keep expecting to step on something and have the floor give way, or have the ceiling cave in on me, or for…I mean, this place was a wreck, and it's not like the school system is overflowing with cash. I mean…how do they excuse it away?"

"Teachers are very creative for all the wrong reasons." Sam replied.

"Yet they never think to do anything except assign the same boring homework." Tucker mock complained.

The classes were done for the day, and the students were getting ready to head home. Yes, everything seemed to be back to normal. There was Paulina, in a brand new wardrobe, telling everyone who listened how terrible it was that the Phantom (at long last the Inviso-bill nickname was dead) didn't know she existed. There was Valerie, occasionally glaring at them. Kwan was still recovering in the hospital, but it probably wouldn't be long before he was back. Indeed, the school was back to the way it was.

Except for one thing.

Near the entrance now stood a small, humble statue of silver and steel, of a figure seemingly floating in mid air, his eyes as steely as the metal that was composed him, his fists clenched and his body ready for combat. He also had long hair, narrower eyes, a slightly larger nose, and thinner lips. As mentioned, it didn't look a thing like Danny. But it was the thought that counted.

The three stopped in front of the statue.

"You know, I couldn't grow hair like this. I'd end up with a mullet." Danny commented, looking down on the base, which read: FOR THE PHANTOM. THANK YOU.

"You know who I think you look like? One of the Twins from the _Matrix_. Which reminds me Danny: ever consider a switchblade?"

"I'd slice all my fingers off before I learned anything." Danny replied. The three stood there for a bit.

"Guys, can I tell you this odd thought I've been having?"

"What Danny?"

"Well…the town's been perfectly quiet. No ghosts since the Flammadea attack. You'd think at least ONE of the stupider ones would have regained their nerve and jumped me by now. But no. Nothing. My powers are back to normal: I've tested them several times, so I'll be ready and refreshed. I just don't have anyone to use them on. And that gave me an odd thought: what if I'm dead?"

Tucker and Sam looked mildly perturbed to say the least.

"Danny, I'm a goth, and even I find that morbid." Sam said.

"Well I don't think I am…but it's just a notion I had. Think about it. All that stuff, I should have died…maybe I did. Maybe this is my idea of heaven. A quiet, normal life. Where I'm not someone special who needs to save the world, but just the average kid I seem to be."

Silence.

"In truth Danny, what kind of life would that be?" Tucker asked.

"Peaceful. Quiet. Unassuming. Normal." Danny said. "…And just as dull as dishwasher."

Sam and Tucker chuckled. Danny allowed himself a wan smile.

"What do you think they'd ever do if they found out?" Danny asked, looking at the statue again.

"Who says they'd believe you?" Sam asked.

"They believe in ghosts."

"Who knows how long even THAT will last?" Tucker took over. "In time, who's to say that the incident that made this statue will go from what really happened to something that supposedly happened? How long before history becomes myth? It might be faster then even we could conceive of."

"Yeah…but all the same…it's just nice to know…" Danny began.

And then it thunked against the back of his head. Danny was a bit startled, but not too much so. From the weight as it bounced off his head and fell, Danny guessed it was another empty juice box. And he had three guesses and the first two didn't count on who had thrown it.

"Hey Fenton! Now that I have your attention, CATCH!"

The full juice box whirled through the air.

Right into Danny's outstretched hand.

"HUH?" Dash Baxter said, as he and his cronies had prepared for some mocking laughter directed at Danny when the juice box had exploded against his head, only to see Fenton turn and catch the box, so carefully it didn't even leak.

Danny regarded Dash with cool eyes.

"You know Dash, throwing stuff at me is all fine and good…" He said, as he tossed the box back to Dash in a lazy underhand, Dash barely catching it in his stunned nature. "But do it someplace where you won't splatter the statue. This guy is the reason you and your friends still get to engage in these simple joys." Danny said, as he shouldered his bag and started walking towards Dash. "Now I have to go home, so I say so long and better luck next time."

And Danny calmly pushed past Dash and left through the door behind him. Dash and his cronies could only stare.

"Whoa. Nice work Danny." Tucker said as he joined Danny outside.

"After Flammadea, Dash doesn't seem so important any more." Danny said, answering the question before it was asked. "Besides, Savior may have been a jerk, but he knew how to talk. Might as well derive something from all his speechifying."

"You're not going to start delivering long rambling monologues on the human condition are you now Danny?" Sam asked.

"Oh I'd love to Sam, but I won't get to do that because right about now HERE COMES THE BOX GHOST!" Danny said, dropping his bag and looking around.

And finding…nothing.

"Uh…The Box Ghost! Beware! Fear him!" Danny said, looking around again.

"Uh Danny…" Tucker said with a pointed finger. "I suppose it can be excused with all the excitement you went through, but you seem to have forgotten you still have ectoplasmic ghost senses that indicates when ghosts show up."

"…Oh. Right. But I was just so certain the Box Ghost would show. He ALWAYS does." Danny said. "So…BOX GHOST!"

Still nothing.

"I think the Amazing Kreskin doesn't have to worry about his job." Sam commented. Danny looked sheepish for a bit, and then his face relaxed.

"Ah, life and my town are back to normal, and no Box Ghost. Life is good." Danny said.

"So Danny, since you're in such a good mood…you want to try out that Karaoke club?" Tucker asked mischievously.

"…Well Tuck, that sounds like a plan, but not now. Now…I actually feel like being alone for a bit. You mind if I bug off for a little while, catch up to you later?"

"Uh…sure Danny. Is there a problem?"

"Oh no…" Danny said. "No I just…no…"

And Danny turned and strolled off through the nearby park, a stroll that swiftly turned into a run, as Danny tossed his bag in some nearby bushes.

And for a moment Tucker believed in the worst. He expected something, or everything, to burst into flame. He expected the nightmare to start all over again. He expected that this time, things would not be the same…

Except that never happened.

A slight flash sounded off in the distance, and then Tucker saw Danny fly off into the sky.

And he relaxed. He'd been wrong. Everything was just fine.

"Can you believe him sometimes Sam?" Tucker asked.

"Oh yes Tucker. I believe." Sam replied.

_I believe in the power of our friendship._ Sam mentally added, as she watched Danny fly off. _I believe that something in it is why we're all alive today._

_And I believe that someday…it will be something more._

* * *

"Daaaaaaad!" Jazz complained. The kitchen table, the one she had planned to do her homework on, was covered with junk, and there sat her mom and dad, furiously working on whatever doohickey or thingamabob they planned to stick their names on next. "What are you doing?" 

"Ghosts never sleep darling! We have to always be ready for the next attack, with new gear and the same old attitude!" Jack Fenton replied.

"But…Daddy, you found out that the former Inviso-bill was a good guy! Who do you need to hunt?"

"Oh, we were wrong about the Phantom honey…" Maddie said, as she snapped a part of something into somewhere. "But we doubt we'll be wrong twice."

"You never know what the future may hold..." Jack said, even as Danny flew by the window behind him. "But I believe in being ready."

"Honey, I do believe you're right." Maddie said.

* * *

Masters Manor. 

A very crowded dining room.

"Sometimes I wonder why I bother." Skulker muttered.

"But Skulker, we must find out the truth! I, Technus, must…"

"Shut up." Skulker muttered. He hadn't had a fun three weeks. It wasn't a lot of laughs when everything you knew was turned upside down, and that the ghost child you had once wanted to skin may have been heir to a legendary power that supposedly belonged to another.

And Skulker knew that was what this was about. Vlad Plasmius had claimed he was the Primmortal, and that claim had been challenged. Severely. But Skulker was certain that Vlad would be making a counter claim soon enough. Hell, he might have even been right.

That was why all these ghosts were here. Lots of old faces and even a few new ones Skulker only vaguely recognized or didn't know from Adam. The only one missing was Walker, for obvious reasons. Vlad wanted them all to know that despite what many of them had seen, it had only been a one-time thing, and that he was still the power on the throne. And if Vlad was indeed the Primmortal, then chances were all these ghosts would either end up serving him or being reduced to nothing like the fire spirit Sizzle had been. It would be good to know that.

But if he wasn't…

There were things Skulker did not know, and so for now he'd keep his options open. And if it came to pass a certain way…he was still the greatest ghost hunter. It would do well for that not to be forgotten.

A door opened, and the ghosts sat up, or floated up, or adjusted their positions if they were already in they air, or stopped whatever they were doing to look.

But it wasn't Vlad, it was Ember. Skulker snorted. He'd heard there might have been something going on between them, something that should have belonged in the realm of humans. Well, Vlad was half human, maybe Ember was curious? Who knew? In any case, it looked like Ember was going to speak for Vlad for now.

"The master is very glad you could all come…" Ember began, and then a bullet, or rather the spiritual equivalent of a bullet, crashed the wall next to Ember. Within a second Ember had materialized her guitar and blasted a force chord at the shooter, blowing his white hat off.

"I don't have time for your nonsense Rose!" Ember snapped.

"Feisty one, aren't we?" Replied the shooter, a blonde ghost dressed entirely in a white old West uniform. He retrieved his hat and placed it on his head as he fancily twirled an old six-shooter. He spoke with a slight Southern drawl. "You must understand missy, in this modern world there ain't much choice for bedlam, one has to keep ones ear to the ground and be aware of chances. And every moment I sit here waiting for your fancy pants master is a moment where I could be raisin' hell, so forgive me if I'm a bit uppity that your master would rather send his vessel then talk himself. And for you, it's Richard, M'lady." Richard Rose said, and grinned lecherously. Ember ignored him.

"I speak for the master, the true Primmortal! If anyone has a problem with it, speak up!"

Silence.

"When did she get into that position?" Kitty asked Johnny 13, as Ember began talking. She didn't much care for the whole thing, but she sensed that eventually it could play to her and Johnny's favor, so here they were.

"Who knows, don't care." Johnny replied. He was about to say something else when a hand was suddenly offering a small white piece of cardboard with symbols on it…or at least that was what it looked like. What it was in reality was considerably darker.

"Card?"

Johnny smacked the 'card' away.

"Back off Deal. You don't want anything to do with me. Bad luck." Johnny said. His shadow growled under his feet.

The speaker just smiled and withdrew the card from the table it had fallen. He was dressed in what looked like an old tuxedo esque suit, slightly rotted through, like an old high roller. He had thin straggly black hair and mean little eyes over a shark's grin. With a brief flick of his hand, the one card became many, and he began rapidly shuffling them. And while Deal on the surface looked like a pathetic washed up gambler, there was more to him then that. A LOT more. Hence Johnny didn't want anything to do with him. There were more then a few new faces Johnny didn't want anything to do with. Another sat a few tables away, a ghost called Nittichi, who dressed like it was still Prohibition and acted like it too. Nittichi had a habit of forgetting he was still a ghost: strange considering he'd spent a while in Walker's prison. He was also vicious and cruel.

It made Johnny uncomfortable. There seemed to be a lot of new meanness showing up, seemingly from out of nowhere. Johnny didn't know where it was coming from or where it was all heading, but he doubted it was good.

Ember was still talking, still trying to rally the troops, telling them of the great rewards it would mean to serve Vlad the Primmortal. Some believed her, some didn't.

Strangely, one of the ones who did not believe was the man himself.

In the room beyond, Vlad sat on his throne, in his Halfa state, his cape pooled his feet, hunched over, hands interlaced in front of his face, glaring outward at the door from behind which Ember spoke, his black eyes even darker then usual.

Ember was speaking in a sense that declared Vlad as the true Primmortal, and anyone who thought differently was a fool who would do well to change their opinion. And she was good at it. Vlad was fairly sure he could salvage what he had declared before the whole Sizzle incident; indeed, his spies had told him that after several weeks of observation that not only did Danny not seem to be accessing the power of the Primmortal, he seemed to have forgotten about it all together. That played right into Vlad's hands, because that made it seem exactly what Vlad had thought at first: it was a fluke. He and Danny, by being Halfas, were both keys, but Vlad was the destined one. Danny had just stumbled into the door and then stumbled back out before forgetting where it was. He'd lucked out and won one battle. But the war was yet to come, and Vlad would yet see Danny at his side as his son. But only as an inferior son. He was Vlad Plasmius, supreme. Nothing could surpass him.

And yet…

He'd felt the power. Beyond anything he had conceived of. And Danny had wielded it like a master.

And it was completely, utterly unacceptable.

Danny thought he had won. Oh no. What he had done was painted a giant bullseye on his back. He had thought he had been tested before? It would be nothing compared to what Vlad would throw at him now. He would batter Danny down into the dirt where he belonged for even daring to assume his equality to Plasmius.

And yet…

What if…he wasn't the…

NO. HE WAS. HE KNEW IT.

And if he had to go to extreme lengths to prove it…

And so, while Ember tried to rally the troops, Vlad sat and plotted and stewed.

"I believe in power." He found himself saying to the empty room. "I believe in destiny. And I believe that my destiny is POWER. I am the Primmortal, Danny Phantom! Not you!"

And when Vlad's hands dropped…there was something bad in his eyes. Something that had never quite been there before.

"Believe it." He snarled.

* * *

Jump City. The T-Tower. 

Raven found Savior on the roof, like she thought she would. He appeared to be watching the moonrise, but what he was really doing was thinking. Deeply. Too deeply, for Raven's taste. That style of thinking usually marked that he was obsessing about something, and the last time he had been obsessing about something, it had led to the personal mess they had left behind in Amity Park.

"You're not brooding on how you failed as a leader in THIS mission, are you?" Raven asked as she stepped up next to Noel.

"……..No. And I'm not brooding. I'm pondering." Savior replied. "I think…I finally have an answer to one of our unanswered miracles."

"Which one? That last incident had a list."

"The fact that despite so much destruction, the only recorded deaths of the Amity Park incident were at the beginning, when Sizzle had possessed Jazz and blew up that block of buildings. After that…nothing. Lots of injuries, but no deaths. This after they had a military helicopter tear through the town and later a fire messiah that would have had a kill count in the tens of thousands had it not been for the fact that everyone seemingly somehow saw it coming beforehand and headed for the hills. It didn't make sense that so much hell could happen, yet so few souls were sent to heaven, so to speak. But I think I've finally figured out how that happened Raven."

"How?"

"Danny."

Raven looked at Savior, in the way she did when she wasn't questioning him but wasn't agreeing with him either.

"Are you suggesting…"

"Raven, we never told him what we learned in those books. Remember how the power was supposedly impossible to access? Or more accurately, DIRECTLY access? I think that with his personality and beliefs, the way he directed them towards others and not himself…Danny found a way to access the power. Even when he didn't realize it. He didn't just manifest it in that orb Raven. I think he manifested it in a way that he was able to alter probability itself to ensure the insane odds of no death in the face of such destruction because HE DIDN'T WANT ANYONE TO DIE."

Raven thought it over…and a slight chill went through her. It was possible…and scary.

"Now…I doubt this kind of unknowing machination will last. Sizzle placed Danny under a special kind of duress that was probably 90 percent of the reason Danny did that. It might never happen again in his life. But for those three days…Danny was dictating the fate of thousands of people…and he was never aware of the fact."

"…That kind of power is NEVER good in the hands of people."

"…Yes…which is why hopefully the seal will stand. The power will only be truly granted to the worthy." Savior said.

There was a silence.

"What do you think Noel?" Raven asked.

"…I believe that if what I theorized is correct, and if Danny somehow does not stray from the path…one day he may come into a power that would make him a god to GODS."

Another silence.

"And I believe…that if that ever happens…the world has nothing to fear."

* * *

And what did Daniel Fenton, as he ran off into the park, suddenly filled with the intense need to fly, believe in? 

Well, as he tossed his bag into the bushes, he believed it would not be stolen.

As he ran up a hill, he believed no one was watching, as he smirked to himself.

"I'm goin' ghost!"

As Danny leapt into the air, and the circles appeared around him, he believed he would not fall. And he did not.

And so Danny Phantom flew through the air. He did not have a destination in mind, or a goal. He just flew, not to escape, or rescue someone, or to attack, but just to fly.

Some people saw him and waved. The ones Danny saw, he waved back to.

The city passed beneath him…and for once, neither human or ghost reared their ugly sides to challenge him. Maybe another time…but not now.

I believe this is more of a future then a possibility.

Danny dove and swooped through the air.

I believe in ideals.

I believe in hope.

Danny flew down so fast his eyes watered against the wind and then shot back up into the sky, flying as if he had a one-way ticket to heaven.

I believe this is a burden worth bearing and a life worth living.

And as his city lay before him, Danny did a slow flip and then rocketed across the sky.

I BELIEVE IN DANNY PHANTOM.

* * *

(Camera freezes on Danny as he flies towards it.) 

(Picture fades. Music starts up as pictures of each character appear on the screen as their names are listed. Originally there were songs here, but they had to be removed. You'll just have to imagine them or ask for the original copy of the story. Anyway, first song before removal: _Warriors of the World Unite_ by Manowar)

Jamie Sie as Kwan   
Cree Summer as Valerie  
Maria Canals as Paulina   
S. Scott Bullock as Dash Baxter  
Ron Perlman as Mr. Lancer  
Scott Menville as Robin   
Greg Cipes as Beast Boy  
Ashley Johnson as Terra   
Billy West as Gauntlet  
Paul Lukather as Scalpel_  
_Kevin Conroy as Batman  
Carl Lumbly as J'onn J'onzz/The Martian Manhunter  
Peri Gilpin as Desiree   
William Baldwin as Johnny 13  
Chynna Phillips as Kitty  
Tara Strong as Timmy Turner   
Daran Norris as Cosmo/Mr. Turner  
Susan Blakesee as Wanda/Mrs. Turner  
Jim Ward as Chet Ubetcha_  
_Matthew St. Patrick as Skulker   
Rob Paulson as Technus/The Box Ghost  
Tara Strong as Ember  
Martin Mull as Vlad Plasmius  
Colleen O'Shaughnessy as Jazz Fenton  
Kath Soucie as Maddie Fenton  
Rob Paulson as Jack Fenton  
Ricky D'Shon Collins as Tucker Foley  
Grey Dilisle as Samantha "Sam" Manson  
Khary Peyton as Cyborg  
Hyden Walch as Starfire  
Tara Strong as Raven  
Kevin Kline as Savior_B_

**And…**

David Kaufman as Danny Phantom

(Fade Out. Change songs. New song before removal: _Reign of a Thousand Flames-Sizzle Remix_ by Rhapsody)

Conceived and Written By Chrissie "Legend Maker" Brynn'_  
_

Sumerian Spell provided by Mephistopheles  
(Translation of Spell: "Ancient gods of good and evil, I summon you, demanding your power, with binding strength! Bring forth the pure, bring forth the tainted, light and darkness unite!")

Special Thanks To: Zia, Jedi-And, and Prisionero

Read of the further adventures of Savior and the Teen Titans in Black and White, Time and Time Again, The Cutting Edge, and the finally to be continued Wings of the Eagles.

Read the unofficial sequel to Danny's Inferno, _Time Phantom_, by Chaltab.

Teen Titans copyright of Cartoon Network. Danny Phantom copyright of Butch Hartman. No profit has been made in the use of these two cartoons. Savior and Sizzle/ Flammadea copyright of me. Any attempt to distribute and profit from such work will face severe government penalties and the wrath of the Primmortal!

Danny Phantom will return in..._Danny Phantasm._

_

* * *

_

Heat.

Terrible, destructive heat on Danny's face, heat he was far too familiar with, as he opened his eyes, yanked from his sleep by the terrible heat…

"The end boy?" Sizzle snarled. "IT NEVER ENDS!"

And she fired…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Danny screamed as he sat up in bed, thrashing about for a few seconds before he realized that Sizzle wasn't there. It had been a nightmare.

Danny went still, sitting up in bed. He didn't even consider trying to go back to sleep.

Instead, he found himself getting out of bed, barely taking the time to put on a robe before he stepped out of his room. His house was dark.

He did not turn the lights on though. The house remained pitch black, Danny somehow walking through it without bumping into or tripping over anything, as he went down the stairs, and then down another pair of stairs.

The room down here was lit, ever so dim, as Danny found himself in front of the Fenton Ghost Portal. He stared at the closed metal circle for a bit…and then, as if his will wasn't his own, he reached out and pressed his thumb on the Fenton Genetic Lock.

The portal opened up.

Nothing came out except the soft, wan greenish light, which spilled over Danny, as he brought his hand back to the side of his body.

He walked up to the portal, stopping right in front of it.

He stared at the shifting energies.

Sizzle was gone…but what would be the next thing to come through this portal?

Slowly, Danny found himself reaching out, until the very tips of his fingers were touching the shifting green mist.

Part of the energy…gave him comfort.

And the other part…

It danced.

Like fire.

**_November 13th 2004-March 20th 2005_**

(Hum the closing theme to Danny Phantom here)

http(semicolon slash slash)www(period)deviantart(period)com(slash)deviation(slash)15133834

_**THE END **_


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